A Draw with Shisui Uchiha!

"At this age, Uchiha Sasuke was actually this cute..."

As Kaze scrutinized Sasuke, whom he had mistaken for a girl, he could not help but sigh inwardly.

Then again, it made sense. Sasuke had inherited his delicate features from his mother, Mikoto.

On top of that, he was still young, his voice still soft and childish, so it was easy to mistake him for a girl.

The Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall had not happened yet, and Sasuke was not yet old enough to attend the Ninja Academy.

At this age, his mind was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper.

Wait...

A blank sheet of paper?

Kaze raised an eyebrow.

"Since Itachi joined the Anbu, he was often away from home. Even when he came back, he deliberately kept his distance from Sasuke."

"And Naruto at this point was isolated in the village because of the Nine-Tails."

"The adults' rejection of him would affect their own children as well."

"On top of that, Naruto could not take care of himself, so he had a miserable life."

The more Kaze thought about it, the clearer his train of thought became.

He needed to cultivate trusted subordinates anyway.

Why not start with children?

Still, no matter how he planned to cultivate Sasuke, that was a matter for later.

His battle with Shisui had yet to determine a winner.

So Kaze crouched down and gently stroked Sasuke's hair.

"That big brother and I still have a little private matter to settle. Could you go play somewhere else?"

As he spoke, Kaze took a bag of sunflower seeds from his pocket.

He had originally meant to snack on them when the Clan Meeting got boring. Now, he simply gave them to Sasuke generously.

"Thank you, big brother..." Sasuke accepted the sunflower seeds with both hands and nodded slightly in thanks.

It had to be said, Sasuke at this age was remarkably polite.

Only after watching Sasuke agree so courteously did Kaze stand up and turn to Shisui.

"Let's continue."

Kaze loosened up a little, preparing to begin the second round.

But who would have thought...

Shisui's eyes shifted, and he bluntly refused.

"Kaze, let's stop here."

Meanwhile, Sasuke secretly memorized Kaze's name. So this gentle big brother is called Kaze.

Seeing the Uchiha Crest on Kaze's clothes, Sasuke immediately understood his identity as well.

"This match was only meant to assess whether you possess the strength of a Jonin."

"The outcome itself is not important."

Shisui further explained, "Still, I have to say, your strength really is monstrous."

Moreover, using Susanoo just now had pushed his Sharingan to its limit.

The interruption of Kaze saving Sasuke had also cooled much of his fighting spirit.

The only thing Shisui regretted was that he had failed to change Kaze's mind.

To instill the Will of Fire in him.

Elsewhere...

Seeing Shisui and Kaze change battlefields, the Root ninja observing in secret did not dare slack off and hurried after them.

They had assumed that one of Shisui and Kaze would inevitably emerge victorious.

Yet to their surprise, the Two people simply stopped fighting!

"Captain, what do we do now?"

A Root member could not help asking the Captain.

Shisui alone was enough to make their leader, Danzo, wary.

And now, another Kaze had appeared.

He had matched Shisui evenly using Nintaijutsu alone.

If Kaze was a firm supporter of the Uchiha faction, it would certainly be no good for the Konoha leadership's control.

Back when the Second Hokage was in power, the Uchiha had even caused a rebellion.

Although it had been suppressed by the Anbu established by the Second Hokage, the incident had always remained a source of anxiety for Lord Danzo.

Over the years, geniuses had emerged from the Uchiha Clan one after another.

For Konoha's stability, Danzo had not hesitated to resort to underhanded measures.

"In any case, report this matter to Lord Danzo in full first."

The Root Captain fell silent for a moment before speaking.

He truly had not expected Kaze's Nintaijutsu to be so outrageous.

Only Lord Danzo could decide how to handle this.

With that thought, several Root ninja vanished from the spot with a whoosh.

But one thing was certain...

After the genius Shisui Uchiha, the Uchiha Clan had produced another extraordinary figure!

At the same time.

Inside the Hokage's Office.

Using the Clairvoyance Jutsu, Hiruzen Sarutobi witnessed the entire battle between Shisui and Kaze firsthand.

His expression gradually changed from an initial smile to surprise, then shock.

When he saw Kaze use Nintaijutsu to clash fists with Shisui's Susanoo.

He fell directly into silence.

His heart was like the surface of the sea swept by a storm.

Wildly turbulent!

On one hand, he was shocked by Shisui's talent.

Not only had he awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, he had also developed the Susanoo that only Madara Uchiha had been able to unleash!

Such talent completely overturned everything Hiruzen had believed about him!

Only after a long while did Hiruzen, his face pale as paper, recover slightly from his shock.

"I never expected Shisui to be hiding such a huge secret."

"I thought that, having inherited the Will of Fire, he had hidden nothing from me..."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes halfway and scrutinized Shisui in the image, his expression gaining a complicated edge.

"And Kaze's Nintaijutsu."

It was worth mentioning that although the Clairvoyance Jutsu could use Chakra to track someone and observe the scenery around them from afar.

It could not transmit sound.

In other words, Hiruzen Sarutobi could only understand some of what was happening by reading their lips.

But the Clairvoyance Jutsu was, after all, showing things from Shisui's perspective.

So he could not clearly tell what Kaze had said.

This made Hiruzen begin to mull things over.

Should he eliminate Kaze?

Fugaku Uchiha would certainly not allow it. His attitude toward Kaze had been evident from the daytime meeting.

And it was not as though it would necessarily succeed.

Even Shisui, after using Susanoo, had only managed to fight Kaze to a draw.

In all of Konoha, there were probably few people who could be Kaze's match.

Should I not eliminate him?

Yet Hiruzen was worried as well.

If he turned a blind eye and Kaze ended up walking down the wrong path.

He would likely become Endless Trouble in the future.

"Sigh..."

"If only Kaze had been born into my Sarutobi Clan."

Hiruzen sat in the Hokage's seat.

If the youth in the image had been named Kaze Sarutobi, he could have raised him without reservation as the successor to the Will of Fire.

What a pity.

Apart from himself, the Sarutobi Clan had never produced any remarkable genius.

But just as Hiruzen pondered a countermeasure before the Crystal Ball, urgent knocking suddenly came from the door of the Hokage's Office.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Danzo." A firm, powerful voice passed through the door into the office.

Then, without waiting for Hiruzen's response, he pushed the door open and entered. "I have something important to discuss with you."

However, the moment Danzo stepped inside, his gaze fell upon the Crystal Ball on the Hokage's desk.

"So it really was your arrangement, Hiruzen."