Of Course It's to Start a Ninja World War

After the first assessment test, the school's curriculum suddenly became much more demanding.

At five or six years old, children were at the age when they needed to build a foundation. There were all kinds of fundamentals, while the proportion of cultural classes was appropriately reduced. Simple lessons like one plus one needed no explanation; most children from civilian families could barely read and write by then.

At this point, the teacher handed out a Chakra refinement manual and required the students to study it at home.

To let the students experience Chakra more directly, the proportion of basic physical training was greatly increased.

Basically, they exercised all morning, studied cultural subjects, and then continued exercising until school let out.

The cultural curriculum was broad and miscellaneous, covering literature, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and politics. Most days, the cultural classes focused on literature and politics.

The main purpose was to learn about and understand that thing called the Will of Fire.

It was a collection of doctrines that were still in their infancy, crude, hollow, and grandiose.

It was not the practical capitalism or socialism, but an extremely naive and idealistic doctrine of devotion.

Complete altruism and devotion with no benefit to oneself went against human nature.

Thus, this thing was Third Hokage's political platform: a beautiful-looking bad check. Anyone who believed in it was a fool.

And ninjas were not fools in the slightest.

Especially clan ninjas who had fought their way through the Warring States Period.

At present, there was an obvious divide between the village and the clans. The new generation of ninjas raised in the village had yet to mature, and as Third Hokage, he was constrained by the clans at every turn.

Even though he was in the prime of his life and at the height of his abilities, it still left him utterly overwhelmed.

Among the clans' troublemakers, the Uchiha were the worst, followed by the Senju, and then the Hyuga.

These were the Three Great Noble Clans of Konoha.

As for the smaller clans below them, Ino-Shika-Cho had been the Sarutobi Clan's allies since ancient times.

The others were no pushovers either.

The Kurama Clan was nearly on par with the Uchiha. Being a great clan was itself a crime.

Then there was the Shimura Clan, which had gradually begun to gain a voice because of Danzo, his childhood friend.

There was the Inuzuka Clan, fiercely wolfish, unusually united, and hostile to outsiders.

And finally, there was the Aburame clan, which seemed to have little presence at all. They followed the secrecy of ninjas to the extreme, and were intensely isolationist and mysterious.

As Third Hokage, he had to resolve the problems posed by these clans. If this continued for long, Konoha would no longer be Konoha. It would either fall apart, or become a clan wearing Konoha's skin.

The farsighted Second Hokage had already left behind a viable path: the Konoha Ninja Academy, which would support Civilian Ninja and use them to counter clan ninjas.

But this path would still need time to bear fruit.

The academy had been founded in Konoha's eighth year. Eight years had passed since then, and setting aside the students who had been fellow disciples of Second Hokage, even the best students of the first class had only reached Chunin by now.

They had absolutely no voice in the village.

For now, the main strategy was to win over some while suppressing others.

At the same time, as Third Hokage, he had to nurture his successor to inherit the position of Fourth Hokage.

As a powerful supporter of Sarutobi Hiruzen's rise, the Senju Clan insisted that Princess Tsunade become Third Hokage's disciple.

This was the Senju Clan's nonnegotiable will.

Since none of these clans could be trusted, the remaining disciple had to be chosen from among the civilians.

If he chose someone from another clan, the Senju would never agree, to prevent anything unexpected from occurring on Tsunade's path to power.

Therefore, the Hyuga and Uchiha were excluded.

By the same logic, the Kurama Clan would not do either. She was no weaker than the Uchiha.

The Shimura Clan was even more unacceptable. Danzo could not be allowed to continue growing.

The Inuzuka Clan had fierce tempers and was not particularly likable.

Their inherited Ninjutsu was excellent, but not exceptionally so.

There was a limit to their talent as ninjas.

Although this clan would not provoke the Senju's hostility.

As for the Aburame clan, this clan with so little presence was isolated from the village. Third Hokage found it difficult to confirm their sincerity, and vaguely felt that they regarded Konoha as spectators.

Rather, the Aburame, who had little connection to the village, seemed more like tenants. They had an attitude of not involving themselves in the village's troubles.

It would be somewhat difficult to drag them onto the battlefield and make them take a side.

Furthermore, they were a minor clan, secretive and sparse in population. They did not intermarry with outsiders, and their secret art of controlling insects was extremely unpopular.

As a result, it was difficult for them to grow powerful enough to provoke the Senju's hostility.

Therefore, accepting a genius from such a clan as his disciple should not cause any problems.

He was Third Hokage, after all. It would be too humiliating to look entirely to the Senju for approval.

Even if the Senju misunderstood him as trying to win over another Ninja Clan, it did not matter. At present, they had to rely on him to stabilize the village's situation.

With a cigarette holder between his lips, Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the little girl's figure inside the Crystal Ball.

He had been observing this child for a week.

He had not seen her do anything particularly unusual. There was no additional training at all. After school, she went straight to the forbidden grounds that were extremely dangerous for these ninja students: the Forest of Death.

Even for many Chunins, the Forest of Death was no less dangerous.

Yet this child moved with the ease of someone strolling through her own garden.

That point surprised Third Hokage somewhat, and made him appreciate her even more.

What made Third Hokage even more astonished was that this child was very likely the first Kekkei Genkai user in the history of the Aburame clan.

It was foreseeable that she could surpass the Aburame clan of the past. He did not expect her to exceed the level of First Hokage.

As long as she could reach or even surpass his level, she would be worth the effort he was putting in today.

At present, this child had already surpassed many people. Her future was worth anticipating.

However, the child's actions at this moment truly left Third Hokage at a loss.

Why abandon proper training and come here to stare blankly at insects? What was the meaning of this?

After a week without figuring anything out, Third Hokage decided to test her personally.

The gaze vanished. The gaze that had followed her since the end of the exam had departed early today.

This was abnormal. Mimi had endured for a week without going to the Secret Base to tinker with her Little Cuties, so she did not mind enduring a little longer.

In any case, the progress of her experiments had not stopped. It was merely somewhat more troublesome to operate, and the genetic mutations that required her personal guidance could not be carried out.

The reason she did not go home early was that she had considered how her mother might ask why she had returned early, which could lead to some information being exposed.

As she thought about matters related to her experiments, a sudden sound of something cutting through the air rang out behind Mimi.

Without warning, a swarm of insects burst forth and enveloped the shuriken behind Mimi, forcing it to stop.

"Kid, your insects really are frightening."

As a master of Ninjutsu, Third Hokage was familiar with many of the Ninjutsu and secret arts of Konoha and even the Shinobi World.

Normally, the Aburame Clan needed to command insects to attack and defend.

The insects themselves had no consciousness.

This meant that if they were caught in an undetected ambush, the Aburame Clan would be unable to react in time and would be injured.

Third Hokage felt that there was no reason for his infiltration to be discovered by a little girl.

Therefore, this had to be the insects instinctively protecting their master.

But that was merely how it appeared. Kikaichū did not automatically protect their master. In essence, Kikaichū were a type of biological machine, and needed instructions to activate and act.

Therefore, the truth was that Mimi had discovered his infiltration.

This forest was filled with Mimi's insects, which was why she could come and go as freely as if she were strolling through a garden.

The frightening thing had never been the insects, but Mimi herself.

Hearing this, Mimi turned to look at the person who had come.

He was dressed in Anbu attire and wore another village's Forehead Protector.

She tilted her head in confusion.

"Are you an idiot?"

"Huh?" The unexpected question made Third Hokage look at Mimi, waiting for an answer.

"Someone from another village like you couldn't possibly infiltrate Konoha's territory." Mimi crossed her arms. "You're a clansman sent by Tsunade to take revenge, right?"

Of course, that was impossible.

Mimi knew that too.

Quite a clever little one. She guessed wrong, though, Third Hokage thought.

"I'm actually a spy infiltrating Konoha!"

Mimi sighed and said, "So what? Why would a spy wear a Forehead Protector and seek death?"

"Of course it's to start a Ninja World War!" Third Hokage shouted fanatically.

"But I'm not valuable enough for that, idiot." Mimi spoke in a cold, helpless tone, as though looking at a hopeless fool. "There's someone called Tsunade over there. You should go find her. She's the Konoha Princess."

She pointed in the direction of her own Clan Residence.

The corner of Third Hokage's mouth twitched.

Was lying without blinking a woman's natural talent? How could she say something like that so naturally?

What was I doing at her age?

"What a pity. Since you've seen my true face, I can't let you live."

As he spoke, Third Hokage drew a kunai and looked at Mimi.

Mimi looked at Third Hokage without the slightest intention of moving.

"Why aren't you taking out a weapon?"

"I don't have one."

The answer was unexpectedly simple.

Third Hokage raised his brows and snarled, "Then die!"

He raised his hand and flung the kunai.

The swarm of insects flew up to meet it. This time, Mimi could not even be bothered to form a one-handed seal.

The result of their collision was the same as before.

The kunai remained suspended in the mass of insects.

Third Hokage's eyelid twitched. Seeing her not form a seal was still utterly shocking the second time around.

What kind of Monster is this?!