While Kirito was testing the changes in his strength brought about by his increased intelligence, Uzumaki Mito was at home giving Kawaki a severe blow to the head.
As Kawaki let out a scream, he went flying, crashing through the wooden wall and eventually hitting the top of the courtyard wall hard.
"That hurt."
Kawaki got up from the ground, clutching his head and screaming in pain.
When he returned home, he asked Mito about his bounty and what Kirito had told him earlier, but instead of being comforted, he was yelled at and eventually beaten.
Kawaki was now feeling bitterness in his heart.
But he didn't cry at least, he just glared unhappily at the pretty grandma in the room who was smiling kindly at him, then he stuck out his tongue and made a face before turning around and running away to find his little friend to complain about his misery.
"Ah~, what a stupid child, just learning to crawl and actually trying to run away."
Mito looked at Kawaki's departing figure and sighed longingly.
Kawaki and Kirito were training for sparring matches in the Senju Clan grounds, and naturally, the conversation between the two had long since reached her ears.
Therefore, when Kawaki came over to ask her about the bounty, she said nothing and directly rewarded Kawaki with a slap on the head.
"Young Master Kawaki is just too young, when he grows up, he will definitely understand."
Chitose Momohua said respectfully as she came in with a tea tray, then made a cup of hot tea for Mito.
"Momo, do you think I'm spoiling Kawaki too much, making this child become so worrisome, someday if I go to meet with Hashirama and no one can control him anymore, and he graduates early and goes to the battlefield on his own without authorization, what can I do then."
Mito sullenly took a sip of tea, worried.
Momo didn't know how to answer, and eventually chose to remain silent with the same worried expression on her face.
It was true, Mito did indeed spoil Kawaki too much.
In fact, not to mention Mito, the entire Senju clan favored Kawaki.
As Hashirama's grandson, Kawaki was highly desired and deeply loved by the entire Senju clan.
This love was more than just pampering.
In order for him to grow up healthily and be happy every day, the entire Senju silently shielded him from all malice from the outside world.
It's just that, from what I can see now, although they did this to allow Kawaki to grow up healthily into a good boy with very good values and inherited the pure Will of Fire, it also made him still very immature in terms of his mind.
If Kawaki was just a child of an ordinary family, there was really nothing wrong with this.
Children should be this innocent and cute.
Being too immature was not good.
But Kawaki is not, he is the grandson of Hashirama, in the future he will lead the Senju clan to continue its glory in Konoha village.
Now Kawaki's childish mind is obviously not enough to become the leader of the Senju clan.
It would have been fine if there was no one to compare with before, and Mito could continue to pamper Nawaki using the excuse that he was just a child and didn't understand anything. But now there is Uchiha Chizuru, who opened the Two-Tomoe Sharingan at the age of six. Comparing the two, there is really a world of difference.
It really proves the saying, it's not that you don't know the goods, but it's that you have to compare the goods.
What's more, Kawaki has a scary reference person beside him, who constantly reminds Mito how big the gap between her own grandson and the genius.
In fact, Mito knew clearly in her heart that Kawaki's talent as a ninja was already considered very good, the fact that he was only six years old when he possessed a chakra amount that exceeded that of an ordinary jonin was the best proof of that, based on that, the talent was already more than ninety percent of ninjas, and as long as he worked hard, it wasn't too big of a problem for him to become a powerful ninja in the future.
However, comparing to Hashirama, Tobirama and Tsunade, Kawaki seems to be too ordinary.
Judging from Kawaki's current training, Kawaki's talent is simply being born with a large amount of chakra, he has no talent in practicing ninjutsu, his chakra manipulation is also sloppy, and as for sealing jutsu, he has no talent at all.
In short, aside from his identity, Kawaki was a Senju with relatively mediocre qualifications, not too outstanding.
As a result, Mito was worried about Kawaki's future, especially after Kawaki had actually said today that he would graduate early and go into battle.
What Kirito said to Kawaki was not wrong, Kawaki's status was there, once he graduated, he would inevitably have to represent the Senju on the battlefield to kill the enemy, and would become a flag to boost Konoha's morale.
At that time, Kawaki would become a thorn in the side of his enemies.
Those who feared the power of the Senju clan would definitely not give him the chance to continue growing.
If Kawaki didn't have enough strength, he would only die.
Because on the battlefield, relying on others could not be relied on, and if one wanted to survive, one could only ever rely on oneself.
"Momo, go get ready, it's time for Kawaki to grow up faster."
Mito saw Momo's silence, she thought about it and finally made up her mind.
"'`Isn't it too fast."'
Momo sniffed and said with some reluctance.
As a member who also doted on Kawaki, she really didn't want Kawaki, this cute little angel, to see the dirty side of this world so soon.
"We can't put it off any longer, Kawaki is different from Tsunade back then, the village won't give him too much time to grow up, and in my case, you know the situation, go ahead and do it early while I'm still around and can still withstand the pressure, I don't want to see this idiot down there so soon in the future."
Mito shook his head and forced a smile.
Growing old, getting sick and dying, this was something that could not be avoided by human beings.
As a top powerhouse, she was able to clearly feel that her end was near, and the increasing difficulty in suppressing the Nine Tails in her body was the best indication of that.
She could still remain young, but she was just holding on to her strength, not allowing anyone with a heart to notice her weakness.
In a few more years, she was afraid that she wouldn't even be able to maintain her youth.
She had wanted to continue to watch her grandchildren grow up happily and enjoy the joys of family in the last days of her life.
But Kawaki was just too much of a burden to save.
Kawaki's announcement of early graduation and Kirito's words had completely shattered the illusions in her mind.
Momohua looked at the strands of silver that appeared in Mito's finely combed hair, and a trace of sadness flashed in her eyes as she respectfully said, "Ha."
"Also, starting tomorrow, Kirito will enjoy the same resource allocation as Kawaki, so tell everyone else to get ready."
Not until Momo left, Mito continued.
Momo responded again, "Ha."
After saying that, she used her Body-Flicker Technique to disappear into the room.
Once Momo left, Mito got up and went outside, looking at a large tree in the courtyard with memories flashing in her eyes.
She had planted this tree together with her own husband, Hashirama, after she came to Konoha.
Counting the time, thirty springs and autumns had already passed.
Thirty years had passed, and the once small sapling had grown into a large tree.
Now that it was late autumn, most of the leaves of the big tree had already withered and yellowed, and the wind would take away many of the withered leaves.
"Hashirama, you big fool, you said that you would properly protect the village, but in the end it wasn't long before you ran away on your own, leaving me behind ..."
Mito looked at the leaves blowing down in the wind and muttered.
Meanwhile, Kawaki, who was walking down the street of the Senju clan territory with his heart full of thoughts, stopped and raised his head to look at the gloomy sky above him as grains of white snow fell from the air.
Winter was coming.