"Uncle Hokage, what's wrong with you?" Once Shin achieved his objective, he stopped and didn't continue.
He understood the principle of quitting while ahead.
Besides, the man clearly couldn't believe that the murderer was his former teammate.
"Shin, I'm fine, I just suddenly remembered something important to deal with." The Third Hokage let go of his thoughts, smiling to indicate he was okay.
"Is that so? Then Uncle Hokage, are you going to mention what we were doing here today..." Nao's face fell.
She thought the Third Hokage would definitely report their secret date... cough, at the Naka River.
With the Uchiha and Hyuga currently at odds like fire and water, their friendship was probably about to come to a premature end.
Shin also wore a pitiful expression: "Uncle Hokage, can you please not tell our families that we came out today?
"Nao and I really are just good friends, those rumors were completely fabricated..."
The Third Hokage naturally agreed repeatedly.
Damn Chiken and Meitoku, refusing to believe it when their kids said they were just friends.
Instead, they chose to believe those rumors from small corners.
This sent a wave of anger through his heart—was face really that important?
He immediately decided to hold a meeting for all major clans next month.
He had to completely root out this obsession with saving face.
Otherwise, Konoha's next generation would have no future.
"Then thank you, Uncle Hokage~" X2
Beaming with joy, Shin and Nao both simultaneously bowed to express their thanks.
Seeing this, the Third Hokage immediately raised a hand to stop the two of them.
"Uchiha and Hyuga? Setting the Uchiha aside for a moment, after Nao reaches adulthood..."
He looked over the two children in front of him with interest, deciding that certain things were better left to take their course.
If it really developed that way, given Shin's troublemaking personality, the Hyuga Clan was bound to have a major incident when the time came.
More than a dozen years later, the Third Hokage would probably already be retired.
Inwardly, he figured he would finally be able to sit back, eat melon, and watch the show.
"Well then Shin, Nao, Uncle has things to do so I'll be leaving first..." The Third Hokage put on his signature kind smile: "Today's conversation is a little secret between the three of us."
Then, he stood on his tiptoes and vanished from their field of vision.
"Shin, why did Uncle Hokage call it a secret?" Nao was once again baffled.
"Huh? Isn't the secret that he didn't tell our families? If we blabbed about it, wouldn't we be done for?"
"How come I still feel like something is a bit off."
"No, you're probably overthinking it. Uncle Hokage is such a good person, he wouldn't try to harm us."
Faced with Nao's relentless questioning, Shin had no choice but to tell a small, white lie.
Of course he knew the secret the Third Hokage was referring to was his earlier speculation about Kagami's cause of death.
"Let's drop that for a second. Did you clearly see my shape transformation just now?"
"Not yet."
"Good thing my chakra has recovered quite a bit. You need to see it clearly this time~"
Shin cleverly steered the conversation away; if she kept digging, she might notice some clues.
Nao wasn't unaware that he was intentionally keeping things from her.
She simply believed that he would never bring harm to her.
And not just because they were friends.
It was because she could sense a special aura from Shin, a feeling that allowed her to choose to trust him without any reservation.
It wasn't until many years later that Nao truly understood what that aura represented.
By that time, she felt no regret for the choice she made today.
Senju Clan Training Grounds.
Nawaki was sweating profusely as he trained.
Smack, smack, smack...
The sound of a barrage of blows against rock echoed out.
"Thirty-eight... thirty-nine..."
Nawaki actually struck the rock in front of him—a full five meters tall—more than thirty times.
To his left and right were also some much smaller, irregular fragments of stone.
Bang!
On the fifty-seventh punch, the rock finally split apart entirely, turning into numerous stones of varying sizes.
It seemed the surrounding rocks were also his handiwork.
"Huff, huff... Still not enough, Uchiha Shin... That guy now... now he even has the Sharingan..."
Nawaki panted heavily, his voice growing louder and louder.
It was as if he had imagined the rock in front of him to be Shin.
"The chakra accumulation method Sis taught takes way too long! I don't have time to waste..."
Tsunade, who had suddenly arrived at the training grounds, raised a hand and flicked her younger brother right on the forehead: "Nawaki, a ninja's strength doesn't experience explosive growth from just a few months of training."
"Ouch!" Clutching his aching head, Nawaki squatted down.
With a grimace, he retorted: "Then why does the Uchiha Clan's strength improve after awakening the Sharingan?"
"What? Jealous of them? Can the Uchiha's physical strength compare to us Senju?"
"Their strengths lie in Fire Release and Genjutsu. When it comes to stamina, our Senju Clan won't lose!" Tsunade's tone was serious enough, except the content was a bit... ahem, never mind.
"But that guy can fly into the sky and smash a street to pieces." Plain and simple, Nawaki just didn't want to work this hard.
Train until he could punch down a tree stump with one blow, and then move on to punching rocks?
Next, was he supposed to punch down a mountain?
"Tch, my method is definitely foolproof..." Tsunade looked completely dismissive: "Don't forget how Grandpa defeated Uchiha Madara—wear him down for three days and three nights, I refuse to believe he can still keep standing."
"Sis, then why aren't you practicing it?"
"I... As for me..."
Tsunade's eyes suddenly lit up: "Didn't I just come straight to give you a great method since I found one? Look at how good Sis is to you!"
She clearly hadn't expected her real intention to be seen right through by him.
She considered this remedy to be rather timely.
"Good my foot, you're definitely just treating me like a white mouse..." Although Nawaki complained inwardly, out loud he said, "Fine. Once I punch through a rock with one punch, do I have to go punch a mountain?"
"That's right, once you punch through a mountain, you can graduate!"
"Then can I go punch a mountain right now?"
"No way. If you go right now, your body definitely won't take it."
Wretched as his fate was, Nawaki had no choice but to frantically hammer away at the rock under Tsunade's supervision.
By the Naka River.
Shin and Nao were likewise sweating.
Ahem... What else could five-year-olds possibly be doing? Those with dirty minds can turn themselves in!
"No, my chakra control is still a bit lacking." Nao, who kept experiencing failure, felt a little discouraged.
"Don't lose heart. You can definitely... wait, I still remember the meridian distribution of your right hand."
Shin recalled the treatment after their duel earlier, having casually preserved the complete layout of her right-hand meridians in his mind.
Optimizing it just a tiny bit wouldn't that make it much easier for her to complete shape transformation?
"So what if you remember? My Byakugan can see it too."
"No, it's different. I can find the chakra pathway best suited for you from it, so you can use less chakra to pull off techniques with greater power."
Shin's words made Nao recall that Fire Release technique that had almost burned down the school.
In her view, the optimized hand signs and chakra circulation pathway could only be described as flawless.
Shin quickly calculated the optimized chakra route and passed it on to Nao.
"Will this really work?" She was still a little skeptical.
"Trust me, I won't harm you." Shin replied with a smile.
Seeing the smile on his face, Nao knew she had no way to refuse.
She had no choice but to follow the chakra circulation pathway Shin had just mentioned to perform her shape transformation.
Soon, a mass of light-blue chakra appeared in Nao's hand.
Previously, she had always been stuck at this exact step.
This was also the hardest step.
Compressing the chakra according to one's own ideas and stabilizing it—only then could shape transformation be considered successfully achieved.
Before you continue