White-Eyed Brothers

They came quickly.

"You only just recruited Aburame Shikuroo into Root not long ago. Isn't that enough?"

The Third Hokage looked at his old partner with some displeasure.

Root's reach was growing longer and longer, faintly crossing the line.

"Not enough. Roots buried deep underground need to absorb more nutrients to strengthen Konoha. The larger such roots are, the better! Hiruzen, you understand."

Danzo slammed his cane against the ground, then glanced at Shibi.

Shibi kept his head lowered, as though he could not care less about anything happening before him.

"Shibi, you've worked hard this time. Rest for a few days first; I have a new mission for you."

The Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe. After Shibi vanished, he fell silent for a moment. "Which one do you want?"

"Even ninja from great clans must serve the village when the time comes. Uchiha Kazue, Hyuga Iroha, Shiranui Genitsu—I want those three." Danzo said, "I originally wanted to recruit Kakashi into Root. He lost his father and his emotions are extremely unstable, yet you refused me!"

"I can assign Might Guy to you. If you want, Might Duy can go too."

"Hiruzen, I don't need fools! Especially not two of them! They don't possess the talent or qualities to become outstanding ninja!"

"I think Gekko Hayate is quite good too. His Kekkei Genkai has great potential..."

"That little thing from the Hayate Clan? He turns invisible when he stands still and reappears when he moves. What use is that Kekkei Genkai? A few Shadow Clones would be more useful than it!"

Danzo was somewhat enraged, and deeply disappointed as well.

You're brushing me off like this? You've changed. You can't even be bothered to put any thought into dealing with me anymore.

Recommending Guy was one thing, but he even pushed Hayate on him?

"Kazue definitely won't work. The Uchiha clan won't permit it. As for Iroha and Genitsu... you can choose one."

"Then give me Iroha. Being from the branch family is troublesome, but after placing a cursed seal on him, he can barely be cultivated."

Danzo's expression darkened.

"Root has ninja from middling clans like the Yamanaka and Aburame, but making a move against the Hyuga Clan and recruiting Iroha into Root will face great resistance. I think Genitsu is a good child. He scored full marks in politics, and he has awakened a new Kekkei Genkai..."

"Hyuga Iroha, then. Root treats everyone equally! Besides, Shikuroo is more outstanding than Genitsu."

Having obtained what he wanted, Danzo turned and left.

Genitsu? A new bloodline? Well, at least it was far more practical than that damned Transparent Release.

But Root did not lack abilities like that!

The Aburame Shikuroo he had recruited had miraculously mastered nano-scale venomous insects. With just a touch, he could kill an enemy using countless nano-poison insects. That was far more useful than any blood poison.

"Hmph, what a pity I still failed to obtain a living Sharingan Kekkei Genkai."

Danzo walked away.

Only the Third Hokage remained in the office, puffing idly on his pipe and letting out a deep sigh.

"The new generation needs to grow up quickly."

Inside the arena.

The shock Genitsu had brought stunned many people, to the point that they looked at him with unfamiliar gazes.

And he truly did seem unfamiliar. Having been wrapped in bandages year-round, suddenly tearing them away gave people an indescribable feeling.

"I challenge Genitsu!"

Obito suddenly rushed out and shouted, "Genitsu, come fight me!"

Whoosh!

The ever-loyal Guy suddenly appeared and blocked Obito at once. He said calmly, "This is not a challenge match. Please return to your position. The competition is not over yet."

"Move aside! The one I'm challenging is Genitsu!"

Obito instinctively reached out to grab him, but in an instant, Guy flung him away with one hand.

"Then I'll challenge you instead! Take this, Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Obito rapidly formed hand seals and puffed out his cheeks.

Then...

His breath caught in his throat, and Guy kicked him away on the spot.

A farce.

"Damn it, why did this happen? I've clearly worked so hard..." Obito got a mouthful of dirt and nearly broke down.

That only earned him even greater ridicule.

No one paid attention to Obito. Even Genitsu merely picked up the bloodstained kunai and calmly returned to the group without responding.

Truly pathetic. If Obito wanted to become stronger, he either needed a cheat or needed to go dark.

Though using the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu at the age of ten was absolutely outstanding, he had not managed to truly unleash it in the end.

"Someone who fumbles at a crucial moment is even more detestable than a mediocre person with limited talent. What do you think, Genitsu?"

Kazue lightly gathered her long hair and spoke with a smile.

"Hey, hey, hey, is it really okay to talk about someone from your own clan like that?"

"Hehe, geniuses and mediocrities are destined to receive different treatment. I fought desperately to become a genius valued by my clan..."

Kazue focused intently on Genitsu's profile, drawing another wave of attention.

At last, after the battle between Shiranui Genma and Ebisu ended.

This large-scale practical combat class for the entire grade came to an end.

In this practical combat class, the qualities displayed by this year's students were already enough for the village higher-ups to make up their minds.

Some of the ninja stationed around the school to maintain the arena also relaxed their guard.

"Heh, we got to see a lot of interesting scenes."

"This year's overall quality is quite good. From what I remember, although they can't compare to Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, and Shibi's generation, they still count as outstanding among all previous classes."

"They... will become excellent ninja in the future."

Several ninja chatted among themselves.

In truth, their duty was to maintain and protect the entire school. The school itself was an important location and was regularly guarded by ANBU members.

People like them, with limited overall abilities and mostly genin, had no need to worry too much about enemy infiltration.

Might Duy followed behind the others. No one wanted to walk with him, feeling that he was an embarrassment.

Everyone else had relaxed their guard. Only Duy continued looking around.

"Ha, Duy, what are you doing? Do you think enemies would launch an attack right as the competition ends and everyone leaves?"

Someone pointed at Duy and burst into laughter.

Even more people joined in.

"Oh! I merely feel that carrying out one's mission until the very last second is the proper posture for blazing youth..."

"Hahahaha, did you hear that? A perennial genin keeps talking about youth. That's absolutely hilarious!!"

"Hmm?"

"What, you don't like it? Want to fight us?"

"No... someone's coming! Two people!"

Might Duy swiftly turned his head. His powerful bodily instincts made his muscles tense reflexively as he abruptly looked in one direction.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

Two mountains of flesh came charging over.

"I'm so hungry, brother."

"That's right. The payment we earn from missions isn't even enough to feed us, little brother."

"We've already worked very hard, yet during wartime we can't even eat our fill. The village abuses us, so we can only find food ourselves. I'm about to starve to death."

"Mmm, the Ninja Academy is up ahead. With so many students, they must have stored a large amount of food."

"Then let's hurry and eat. If anyone gets in our way..."

"Then kill them."

The two enormous burly men charged forward in great strides. They were not fast, but every step smashed the ground apart with a boom, and the Chakra bursting from them was astonishing.

The ninja responsible for guarding the Ninja Academy changed expressions the instant they saw the two men.

"Th-those two are... the legendary pair of brothers?!"

"This is bad. They've gone mad with hunger again. Hurry and report to the higher-ups!"

They had been laughing and chatting a moment ago, but now their faces had gone pale.

Might Duy's face also tightened, his heart heavy. "It's actually those two... the White-Eyed Brothers... Wind God and Thunder God!"