Shin'nosuke Sarutobi stared in shock at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had sunk into his memories.
A mere exam paper written by a Ninja Academy brat had moved the Hokage of Konoha so deeply—and it had been written by a brat from the Uchiha Clan...
It was truly astonishing.
Shin'nosuke Sarutobi was immensely curious. Hiruzen Sarutobi had first shifted from sternness to delight, then from delight to sorrow.
What on earth had he seen?
"Father, Father..."
Only after Shin'nosuke Sarutobi called to him softly several times did Hiruzen Sarutobi wake from his memories.
He slowly shifted his gaze away from the framed photograph of the Second Hokage. After shooting an annoyed glare at his impatient eldest son, he solemnly handed Seisui's exam paper to Shin'nosuke.
"You're the head of the Anbu. Take a look. Could you write about the Will of Fire with such eloquence?"
Shin'nosuke Sarutobi noncommittally accepted Seisui's exam paper. He gave it a quick glance, his pupils trembling, then began to read it seriously.
It could not be helped.
Seisui's answer combined Hiruzen Sarutobi's heartfelt reflections at the end of his life with words Tobirama Senju had spoken in his youth.
It combined the essence of both the Second and Third Hokage. Calling it merely the Will of Fire would almost be selling it short—it ought to be called the "Will of Flame"...
"Seisui truly is worthy of being Uncle Kagami's descendant... Father, I think this exam paper should be promoted extensively. We could even extract some of its lines as slogans for the Will of Fire. It would help the village's shinobi gain a deeper understanding of the Will of Fire..."
"On a broader scale, every village has a different spiritual pillar. For instance, we have the Will of Fire, while Iwagakure has the Will of Stone. A concise, catchy summary like this would be very helpful in spreading the Will of Fire."
As the head of the Anbu, Shin'nosuke Sarutobi had keenly grasped this point.
"Go ahead and do it, Shin'nosuke. This is a very meaningful matter."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded in agreement, took back Seisui's exam paper, and without hesitation wrote down a perfect score. Then he hesitated again.
He wanted to give Seisui a thoughtful comment.
After a moment, he picked up his brush and wrote: I am delighted that the Will of Fire has shone so brilliantly in Seisui's hands. May Konoha's love take root in your heart and bloom into resplendent flowers.
Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi still shook his head in dissatisfaction. "In a few days, I'll speak with Seisui face-to-face myself. He's a good child..."
"The Hawk Faction within the Uchiha Clan has risen strongly lately. Obito Uchiha has already been corrupted by them. As Kagami's descendant and an outstanding inheritor of the Will of Fire, Seisui must be protected with particular care."
"I have a feeling that Seisui may be the key to resolving the Uchiha Clan's problems in the future."
Shin'nosuke Sarutobi silently nodded to show that he understood.
Words could be deceptive, but for someone to write about the Will of Fire at a level comparable to the words of a Hokage, the possibility of deception was simply too low.
"Let's finish reading the children's papers. I can't show too much favoritism toward Seisui. I must be fair..."
The Third Hokage chuckled as he reviewed one paper after another, assigning scores high and low. There were no more failing grades, but he did not write any additional comments either.
Until only two papers remained.
"It really has been a tiring night, but it has also been a wonderful one. I've witnessed the children's growth..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi pounded his lower back, gathered his spirits, and picked up one paper. "Kojiro Inada. Just from the name, he looks like a child from a civilian family."
But the next instant, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned strange.
Shin'nosuke Sarutobi looked at his father in surprise. This was the first paper, after Obito's and Seisui's, to cause such a dramatic change in Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression.
"..." Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, his expression growing stranger still.
There was a hint of agreement, displeasure, and even a trace of anger.
Shin'nosuke Sarutobi grew even more curious. Even Obito Uchiha's paper had merely made his father serious. Just who was this Kojiro Inada, to create such a full range of emotions on the Hokage's face?
"He understands a little, at least, but he has no respect for his elders and speaks with outrageous arrogance. A mere brat is teaching me how to be Hokage, questioning the village's current policies, and ordering me to reform them. What sort of family raised this child..."
Suppressing the fire in his heart, Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the practical examination report that had been sent over by the Ninja Academy's disciplinary office.
If Kojiro Inada were a genius, then perhaps he could be granted some leniency.
But when Hiruzen Sarutobi saw Kojiro Inada's abysmal practical scores, he let out a heavy breath.
A useless fool who only knew how to wage war on paper!
At such a young age, he did not seriously study the fundamentals or basic ninjutsu, yet he dared to pass judgment on the village's affairs from on high. He even hinted at how Hiruzen Sarutobi could become a truly good Hokage.
If the Second Hokage had stood before him and said these things...
Hiruzen Sarutobi would certainly have humbly admitted that he still had many shortcomings, thanked his old teacher for his guidance, and said that he would work harder—everything you say is right, right, right!
But Tobirama Senju, who had never taken a written exam in his life, did not understand how to switch from the mindset of the Second Hokage and a teacher to that of an ordinary examinee.
Even though he had restrained himself somewhat, the unmistakable tone of lecturing and instruction in his writing had already left Hiruzen Sarutobi boiling with rage.
Critical words could produce completely different effects depending on the identities of the two people involved...
"Nonsense! Utter rubbish!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi slapped the table, picked up his red pen, and wrote a stern comment on Kojiro Inada's paper:
Overambitious and impetuous. The Will of Fire is not a subject for your empty theories. Learn to be a shinobi first—that is your most urgent task!
He very fairly gave him a zero!
After reading Kojiro Inada's paper, Shin'nosuke Sarutobi shrugged.
All he could say was that the child had been a little unlucky.
If an ordinary teacher had graded it, he would have merely received a scolding. But he had happened to have his paper graded by the Hokage himself, so there was nothing to be done...
And the final paper, combined with Kojiro Inada's critical answers, thoroughly enraged Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose self-control was actually rather good.
Examinee: Asuma Sarutobi.
On the rebellious youth Asuma's exam paper, the famous second-generation Hokage had unleashed his full firepower. He bluntly called the Will of Fire and his father hypocritical, claiming that the current Third Hokage did not understand the Will of Fire at all and only knew how to use vague, lofty words to fool people.
In terms of sheer bluntness and sharpness of language, there was no one else like him in Konoha.
Not even Shimura Danzō dared to insult him like that!
"Fine, fine, fine! You little brat, this is how you treat the exam paper I set, is it?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi yanked open his desk drawer and began searching for something inside.
Shin'nosuke Sarutobi blankly watched his father grab a belt and rush out of the Hokage Office in a panic. He stepped up to the desk, glanced at the paper, and covered his face.
The Sarutobi family was truly cursed.
But then Shin'nosuke Sarutobi laughed.
So you like stealing my cigarettes, huh?
Shin'nosuke Sarutobi leisurely picked up the pipe his father had left on the desk and happily began to smoke.
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