Become the Hokage, Young Master

The Third Hokage's son... is too obscure.

There are only two possibilities.

One: he really isn't capable.

Two: he's hiding deep, or simply can't be bothered to show off.

So, which one are you? The young master of the Sarutobi clan.

Baring her teeth in a wide grin, Ringo Ameyuri began to unsheathe the twin blades on her back.

With that motion, Shirakumo Hayama grew even more tense.

The reputation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was far too imposing. Shirakumo Hayama, still green behind the ears, wasn't as steady as he would be in the Shippuden era.

Still a young man, he couldn't withstand the killing intent from eight people, especially the oppressive pressure of Ringo Ameyuri.

So he let out a sharp shout and drew the sword at his waist.

"Wind Release...!"

But before Shirakumo Hayama could unleash his technique, Ringo Ameyuri's attack had already arrived.

"Lightning Release... Lightning Blade: Falling Lightning!"

Crackle!

Lightning chakra coiled around the Thunder Swords, and a blinding flash of electricity shot straight into the clouds above everyone's heads.

In the blink of an eye, with a thunderous roar, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky. Before anyone could react, it struck Shirakumo Hayama, who was about to swing his blade.

Shirakumo Hayama crumpled to the ground, black scorch marks and smoke rising from his body.

He had only just raised his hand, barely coating his blade with Wind Release chakra.

And the enemy's attack was already complete.

Their speed of execution wasn't even on the same level.

No... or rather, this was completely beyond common sense...

Chapter 13. I'll Kill Your Whole Family!

The speed of a lightning strike is only a thousandth of a second.

In the world of Naruto, only a handful of people can perform such an attack.

Sasuke, who mastered Kirin, and then the female ninja before them.

With such terrifying attack speed and method, just showing it once was enough to stun everyone.

So even the sharp-witted Ino Yamanaka was completely frozen in place.

Faced with this kind of speed that defied common sense, it was simply impossible for a human to dodge lightning.

"Heh..."

Ringo Ameyuri leisurely lowered her arms, holding the two Thunder Swords at her sides.

Shirakumo Hayama lay on the ground, his condition unknown.

The seven Kirigakure ninja flanking them revealed even more bloodthirsty and cruel smiles, and also grew more wary of their squad leader... Ringo Ameyuri.

In just one exchange, Ringo Ameyuri had established an invincible image in everyone's minds.

After all, no matter how fast a human was, how could they possibly outrun a lightning strike?

The only way would be to dodge before she even raised her blade, only then might it be possible to evade the attack.

However, something caught Ringo Ameyuri's curiosity.

"You're not afraid?"

Seeing Akira Sarutobi's expressionless face, she thought... Is this guy not scared, or is he just stunned stupid?

To the naked eye of others, it looked like Ringo Ameyuri simply raised her hand and summoned a bolt of lightning.

To ignorant civilians, Ringo Ameyuri might as well be a celestial being.

But to Akira Sarutobi, who possessed a wealth of knowledge and basic physics, this was a phenomenon that could be explained.

"Using the Thunder Swords as a guide... sending chakra into the sky via pulses, then refracting it to the ground, creating an ionized air channel, forming a plasma path as a conductor to guide the Lightning Release chakra, thereby achieving the effect of a lightning attack. In other words... the secret of the Thunder Swords' attack lies in these two blades being tools capable of generating pulses."

Akira Sarutobi explained calmly.

What seemed like a divine miracle to ordinary people was merely a standard method used in many science labs in his previous life to control lightning.

In one sentence, he had cracked the mystery of Ringo Ameyuri's—or rather, the Hidden Mist's treasure, one of the seven swords, "Thunder Sword Fang."

The Mist girl's face immediately turned sour.

But it was only for a moment; the expression flickered and vanished.

"Heh... interesting."

Ringo Ameyuri put away her dismissive gaze.

This young master wasn't the fool she had taken him for.

I should say... his knowledge is a bit too overwhelming.

Most ninja actually have a very poor level of education. They train their chakra purely by instinct.

Rather than calling them humans who can use chakra, they're more like wild beasts.

Seeing this, Ringo Ameyuri had already developed killing intent in her heart.

Of course, to the others, Akira Sarutobi's explanation was like reading from a heavenly book—mind-numbing, completely incomprehensible.

This was a gap in strength, and also a gap in knowledge and intelligence.

"Move out." With Ringo Ameyuri's calm command, the seven subordinates around her immediately sprang into action.

"Protect Shirakumo Hayama!"

Akira Sarutobi rapidly formed hand seals, and facing the barrage of incoming attacks, he slammed both hands onto the ground.

"Huh? He's not dead yet?" Ino Yamanaka feigned surprise, but in reality, as a sensory-type ninja, she could definitely understand Shirakumo Hayama's condition better than most.

Ringo Ameyuri's attack was indeed swift, but that technique had a fatal weakness—insufficient killing power.

An excessively exaggerated attack speed came with a massive loss of chakra during transmission.

By the time the chakra was sent into the sky and fell back down, the remaining energy was already minimal.

So she couldn't launch this kind of attack multiple times.

Against an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, this technique couldn't become a battle-deciding jutsu.

"Doton: Earth Return!"

The earth rumbled loudly as a stone slab rose from the ground, blocking the thrown shuriken, kunai, and other ninja tools.

Akira Sarutobi leaped backward, and the stone slab exploded into countless fragments.

Clearly, the enemy had used Explosive Tags.

Ino Yamanaka, who had wanted to pretend this matter didn't exist and conveniently abandon Shirakumo Hayama, had no choice but to grab her teammate and jump back.

"Master, this guy's become dead weight. Let's just ditch him."

Ino Yamanaka's expression carried a hint of pleading, but more than that, it was coquettish.

Yet Akira Sarutobi would never abandon a comrade.

Before Akira Sarutobi could refuse, Ruri had already engaged the enemy.

The girl charged into the enemy formation, her form blooming as she executed the Gentle Fist technique, weaving through a net of blades in a perilous dance.

This scene, seen through Ringo Ameyuri's eyes, was mistaken for an act of "ordering subordinates to their deaths."

So she let out a cold laugh and said, "Someone like you, a second-generation brat, would never understand..."

Her words dripped with sarcasm.

"A pampered young master like you, treating ninja as tools—do you know anything about the suffering of the common folk? Sending ordinary people to die while you lords enjoy yourselves..."

Kirigakure.

It was a place even more stratified than Konoha.

As the official Naruto novel explained... upper class, middle class, lower class—three classes were clearly demarcated.

Hierarchy and class consciousness were deeply ingrained.

"..."

Akira Sarutobi frowned slightly and rushed straight over to help Ruri.

This was indeed a world of comparing who was worse.

Akira Sarutobi also knew he wasn't a good person.

Even so, deep in his heart, there were things he wanted to hold onto!

The melee erupted then and there—flashing blades and gleaming swords, the two sides clearly divided.

Before long, Ringo Ameyuri let out a loud shout: "Stop!"

"Master..."

Ino Yamanaka, retreating back to Akira Sarutobi's side, clutched her arm as blood flowed—clearly, she had been stabbed by Ringo Ameyuri.

And when Akira Sarutobi looked over at Ringo Ameyuri's side, his brow furrowed even tighter.

There, the prodigy girl of the Mist was holding the Thunder Sword Fang against Shirakumo Hayama's neck.

Shirakumo Hayama, who had just woken up, could barely even catch his breath, let alone put up any resistance.

"Drop your weapons, or I'll kill him!"

Taking hostages was something other ninja villages often did to villages like Konoha and Amegakure.

Because these villages had morals and limits.

What was the Will of Fire? The answer was: protecting the people or things you cherish.

Konoha, which valued the spirit of comradeship, was completely different from the Bloody Mist, where one could trample over a comrade's corpse or even kill each other.

So taking hostages is often a very effective tactic against villages like Konoha and Amegakure.

In the original story, Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, faced the choice between completing the mission or saving his comrades.

Young Obito was the same.

They both chose without hesitation to save their comrades, upholding the Will of Fire.

But the Will of Fire isn't about self-indulgent sentiment—it's about facing reality.

The lives of your comrades are the most important thing.

Therefore...

"Even if we surrender, you wouldn't let him go, would you."

Akira Sarutobi's tone was neither servile nor arrogant. Ringo Ameyuri never once saw anxiety on his face.

That made her even more curious about him.

He was as calm as a machine.

How exactly would he handle this crisis?

"You can kill him."

When Akira Sarutobi said those words, Ringo Ameyuri's expression froze in shock.

"Not negotiating with terrorists... is common international sense!"

A soul from the 21st century was ultimately different from the people of this world.

"But...! I'll kill your entire family! Wipe out your Mist Village! Leave your village barren! Every last one of you dead! Completely erased from the map of the shinobi world!"

Akira Sarutobi's resolute words sent a chill through Ringo Ameyuri's heart. The aura he exuded made the air itself drop a few degrees.