Ordinary Genius

In the small woods behind the Ninja Academy, the afterglow of the setting sun gradually vanished beyond the horizon.

Asuma stood among the trees like a stone statue that had lost its soul, muttering to himself, "Impossible. Impossible..."

Beside him, Soseki flexed the "threads" at his fingertips and asked, "Asuma, is this Chakra?"

Asuma snapped back to his senses, his gaze on Soseki filled with complicated emotions. "How could you learn to refine Chakra so quickly? Don't tell me I'm inferior to him even in talent for being a ninja?"

For someone of average talent, learning to refine Chakra took roughly half a month to a month. A genius, meanwhile, could do it in just three days—at least, that was what his private tutor, a Special Jonin, had told him when he had refined Chakra himself after only three days.

He had never thought Soseki would need half a month to learn Chakra refinement. As a "strong person" whom he acknowledged, learning it within five days would have been entirely reasonable.

But it hadn't even been ten minutes since I taught him. I'm a genius—so what does that make him...? Asuma stared at Soseki as though he were a monster, then finally could not help asking, "Y-you... how did you succeed in refining it on your first try?"

Soseki shook his head slightly. "Actually, it wasn't my first time trying to refine Chakra."

Asuma asked in confusion, "Huh? Didn't you say no one had taught you how to refine Chakra?"

"Perhaps you don't know this, Asuma, but I've always worked at the hospital as an orderly for the patients. I don't have Chakra myself, but I've seen the nurses refine Chakra many times." Soseki explained with a smile. "And today, Teacher Yagami taught us plenty of systematic theory about Chakra, didn't he?"

"Huh? Did he?" Asuma asked blankly.

It was not that he had been distracted or asleep in class. He had simply learned all that knowledge in advance. Still, he had never cared much for theory; in his view, that time would be better spent practicing hand seal speed.

Soseki was not surprised by Asuma's reaction at all. At the Ninja Academy, theoretical knowledge had never been valued. The teachers cared more about their students' practical skills and ability to adapt on the spot.

Thus, when it came to more theory-oriented exams, the academy not only did not object to cheating, but even encouraged students to cheat—as long as their methods were not too obvious.

"Of course he did." Soseki's tone was gentle and unhurried. "It was only after learning the complete theory today and connecting it with my previous understanding of Chakra that I barely managed to figure out how Chakra refinement worked. Unfortunately, the method I came up with was still too crude. I spent the entire day trying and failed. It was only after you told me the complete method for refining Chakra that I succeeded."

"Oh, so that's how it was." With so much groundwork laid out, Asuma found it much easier to accept.

What he did not know was that being able to reverse-engineer a method of refining Chakra merely from watching others do it and understanding the theory behind Chakra was countless times more terrifying than successfully refining Chakra on one's first attempt.

Then Asuma perked up again. "Just as expected of my destined rival! But let me remind you: Chakra is only the foundation. Ninjutsu is what truly defines a ninja! Mediocre ninjas might need years just to learn the most basic Three Basic Ninjutsu, but for gifted geniuses like us, conventions exist to be shattered!"

Soseki nodded in deep agreement. Yes, this world had never been fair.

Seeing that Soseki agreed with him, Asuma was even happier. For the first time, he felt he had found a kindred spirit. "Come on. I'll treat you to some incredibly delicious ramen."

"I'll treat you instead. If you hadn't helped me, I would have been in a lot of trouble today."

"But is the relief money from the village enough?" Asuma hesitated. He knew Soseki's family circumstances could not be very good.

"Did you forget? I work part-time at the hospital too." Soseki smiled with the warmth of a little sun. "At least I can afford to treat a friend to a bowl of ramen."

"Friend... so this is what a friend is?" Asuma murmured. His nose stung, and he hurriedly changed the subject. "Oh, right. Your skill at controlling Chakra Threads earlier looked really impressive. How did you do that?"

"Well, it mainly tests how well you can coordinate and control your body and mind. If you want to learn, I'd suggest starting with ordinary suturing procedures... Incidentally, you can pick up plenty of animal hide and meat that hasn't been fully skinned at the market."

Hearing Soseki describe something so terrifying in such a gentle tone, Asuma could only laugh awkwardly. "Ha... haha. I'll pass. It's not like I plan to become a Puppet Master or a Medical Ninja."

At the Third Hokage's home.

"Today should have been Asuma's first day at school, right?" Seeing that Asuma had not returned home so late, the Third Hokage rubbed his brow and sighed. "It's only the first day, and he's already causing me trouble."

"Lord Hokage, you may truly have misunderstood young master Asuma this time." The ninja standing nearby answered respectfully.

"Oh?" The Third Hokage looked over in surprise. He knew that although Takeuchi Taiga could be somewhat slick, he would never dare deceive him about something like this.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"According to the information I received, young master Asuma's performance at school today was exceptionally eye-catching! He was one of only two people in the class who wished to serve everyone and ran for Class Leader. Though he lost the election, young master Asuma ended up becoming friends with his rival, each recognizing the other as a kindred spirit..." Takeuchi Taiga somewhat "briefly" summarized the events in between. "Young master Asuma has not returned home today because he wanted to help his friend quickly master the method of refining Chakra."

"Oh? Asuma lost?" The Third Hokage's eyes lit up. His son might have a somewhat rebellious personality, but his talent was indeed quite good. Coupled with the advantage of being the Hokage's son, he had never expected him to lose an election.

But as he listened further, he increasingly felt that something was off.

"Kindred spirits? Friends? Helping?" The Third Hokage's mouth twitched slightly. "That explanation only confuses me more. Could you tell me the full details of what happened?"

With an embarrassed expression, Takeuchi Taiga took out a document and handed it to the Third Hokage.

As he read the records in the document, the Third Hokage's eyelids twitched wildly. Asuma's performance had indeed been very "eye-catching."

Yes, nearly eye-catching enough to blind his old eyes.

But soon, his attention was drawn to another person mentioned in the document.

"The descendant of a Civilian Ninja who died in the war? To still possess such a positive and sunny outlook... it truly cannot have been easy for him."

The Third Hokage sighed softly. Then his eyes abruptly locked onto a sentence in the document, unable to move away. "It isn't only those who become Hokage who are recognized by everyone. Only those recognized by the people... can become Hokage!"

"That conviction..." The Third Hokage was genuinely moved this time. He simply could not imagine those words coming from the mouth of a five-year-old child.

"I see the radiance of the Will of Fire in him! It is precisely because we have younger generations like them that everything we do has meaning, and the wills of the heroes who fell in war can be passed down without end."

After pondering for a moment, the Third Hokage added, "Remind me about the match half a month from now."

Takeuchi Taiga asked in surprise, "Lord Hokage, could it be that you intend to go personally...?"

The Third Hokage smiled. "Don't overthink it. I merely... want to see how my son performs, as his father."

Understanding dawned on Takeuchi Taiga's face. So I'm just the Tool Person, huh? Got it!