First Meeting with the Third Hokage

The reason Kyosuke could defeat his opponent without a scratch was entirely due to his unexpected Genjutsu abilities.

After all, there was indeed a gap in their basic physical capabilities.

Moreover, Hyuga Tagawa's strength was considerably higher than what the records indicated.

Having sensed this in the first exchange, Kyosuke changed his tactics accordingly.

It must be said that the combat experience gained in the Instance Dungeon was also a key factor in his victory.

Although the fight made it look like Kyosuke had been dominating his opponent, his Chakra had already been largely depleted after releasing the "Mind Decapitation Technique."

If that final blow hadn't finished the enemy, today might have turned dangerous for him.

Fortunately, though the process was a bit twisted and winding, the outcome was good.

Lost in thought, Kyosuke began to zone out again, until footsteps sounded behind him, snapping his focus back to the arena.

He turned around and saw Orochimaru walking up beside him with an inexplicable smile on his face. Without hesitation, Kyosuke bowed deeply and shouted, "Teacher!"

Hearing this, Orochimaru's smile brightened slightly. He said, "Come find me tomorrow," then turned and left.

After a while, just as Kyosuke was about to regroup with his clan members, two more people approached him.

These two were none other than Jiraiya, the "Mad Demon" of the Sannin, and the future Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

"Jiraiya-sama, Jonin Minato." Kyosuke was not as casual with them as he had been with Orochimaru.

Because given Orochimaru's personality, he didn't care about mundane formalities. As long as he deemed you valuable, even if your behavior was a bit unrestrained, he wouldn't mind.

Conversely, if Kyosuke were a mediocrity, no matter how much respect he showed, in Orochimaru's eyes, he would be nothing more than a disposable pawn.

But these two were different. Kyosuke had to tread carefully.

To a certain extent, their impression of him would directly influence how the Hokage faction viewed him.

If Kyosuke wanted to firmly establish himself in Konoha, he had to get along with these two.

Hearing Kyosuke's greeting, Jiraiya laughed heartily and clapped him on the shoulder. "You're Kyosuke, right? Interested in switching to my tutelage? Let me tell you, that Orochimaru guy doesn't really know how to teach students."

With that, he pulled the wryly smiling Minato forward, pushed him in front of Kyosuke, and wiggled his eyebrows lecherously.

The meaning was obvious: Look, I taught Minato this well—are you sure you don't want to reconsider?

Just as Kyosuke was smiling bitterly, unsure how to respond, a small snake suddenly emerged from the ground.

Under everyone's gaze, the snake slithered around briefly, then suddenly lunged at Jiraiya.

"Whoa, stay away~!" Jiraiya yelled, flailing as he ran off into the distance.

"..." Kyosuke and Minato exchanged wry smiles at his antics.

After a bit of casual chat, Minato took his leave.

Just as Kyosuke was about to leave as well, a group of masked ninja stopped him again.

"Come with us. Someone wants to see you." The ninja exuded an air of indifference and spoke to Kyosuke in a commanding tone.

"May I ask who you are?" Sensing trouble, Kyosuke stalled with words while secretly signaling to Fugaku, who was waiting in the distance.

From the way these ninja spoke and the unique aura they gave off, Kyosuke was certain they were not Anbu directly under the Hokage.

Since they weren't the Hokage's direct Anbu yet wore Anbu gear, their identity was obvious.

They were Root ninja under Danzo's command.

As for why they were looking for him, he didn't need to think hard to know it couldn't be anything good.

Fortunately, Fugaku and the others were still waiting for him, so he had room to refuse—otherwise...

Just as Kyosuke was racking his brain for a way out, a third group unexpectedly arrived.

"Uchiha Kyosuke, the Hokage requests your presence." Several Anbu ignored Root and Fugaku's group, walked up to Kyosuke, and said flatly.

This time, Kyosuke had no way to refuse.

Under the helpless gazes of Root and Fugaku's worried expression, Kyosuke followed the Anbu to Konoha's most famous building—the Hokage Building.

After three steady, forceful knocks, Kyosuke entered the Hokage's office.

There, he saw the cloaked, middle-aged Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Oh, Kyosuke is here." The Third Hokage, buried in paperwork, took a long while to lift his head from the mountain of documents and gave Kyosuke a kind smile.

Having waited for some time, Kyosuke showed no trace of impatience and did not interrupt the busy Hokage.

Only after hearing the Third speak did he bow slightly and say with full respect, "Uchiha Kyosuke greets the Hokage-sama."

"A polite child." The Third nodded inwardly, then smiled even more warmly. "Speaking of which, you can call me 'Master' now."

"Greetings, Master." Kyosuke seized the opportunity and called out crisply.

"Haha, good, good." The Third's smile grew brighter. He reached out and produced a scroll from somewhere, handing it to Kyosuke. "This is your master's gift to you. Take it."

Kyosuke accepted it respectfully with both hands and sneaked a peek.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow River"—one of the Third's signature Ninjutsu, and a B-Rank scroll at that.

"Thank you, Master." Having received such a boon, Kyosuke's smile was far more radiant than before.

After they chatted idly for a while longer, the Third suddenly asked, "Child, can you tell me why you chose to take Orochimaru as your teacher?"

"Here it comes." Kyosuke smiled inwardly, then told the Third the excuse he had prepared long ago.

"I greatly admire Orochimaru-sensei's strength, as well as his outstanding battlefield command." Kyosuke said loudly, then an unavoidable hint of hesitation crept across his expression, as if he was wondering whether he should say some things or not.

The Third keenly noticed this, and his smile grew even more benevolent. His voice softened as he said, "Is there another reason? Don't be afraid, no matter what you say, your master's master won't blame you."

After hearing this, Kyosuke seemed to muster up his courage and said, "Also... it's that my family can't control my teacher. As long as I can take Orochimaru as my teacher, then I won't have to stay cooped up at home every day."

Hearing this, the Third suddenly recalled how he had run off to patrol the streets. Nodding inwardly, he asked with curiosity, "Why don't you like staying at home?"

The "home" the two of them spoke of naturally referred to the Uchiha Clan.

Kyosuke hesitated for a moment before finally answering, "I really don't like the atmosphere at home. All day long it's about status and strength and such—I hate all of that."

Hearing this, the Third's eyes flickered slightly, then he asked with a smile, "Then what does little Kyosuke like?"

"Freedom. Adventure. And the people who give me delicious food when I'm on patrol." Kyosuke answered without hesitation.

"Hahaha." The Third couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh at that, then stood up, looking down at Kyosuke, who only reached his waist, and said, "Good child. Truly a good child."

Afterward, the Third took Kyosuke's hand and personally escorted him out of the Hokage Building.

"Phew, that hurdle is finally over." Kyosuke rubbed his cheeks, which had already grown stiff from smiling, and sighed inwardly.

At the same time, he gave his performance just now a score of 90. He deducted the remaining 10 points because he was afraid he might get arrogant.

In this conversation with the Third, he had clearly expressed one attitude.

That in his heart, he really didn't like the current Uchiha Clan.

As long as he made the Third clearly "see" this point, everything else was completely unimportant.

Even what he said later about liking the villagers and such was absolutely not as important as that first point.

Because that was just related to his personality. Orochimaru, Mizuki, and even some ninja from major clans didn't like dealing with villagers either—it was a very normal phenomenon.

But none of that affected their identity and stance as "Konoha" ninja.

As for the first issue, speaking broadly, it was a matter of "taking sides."

That was what mattered most.