In Leaf Village: Starting Off by Slapping White Fang

But they all feared the God of Harmony, whose power had grown ever stronger in recent years, and gradually lost the nerve.

But unfortunately, Senju Nawaki's aptitude as a ninja was truly awful.

Even Madara Uchiha wanted to complain about it. He was worlds apart from his grandfather.

Another reason was that his only relative, his sister Tsunade, was still alive.

Otherwise, it would have been much easier for him to fall into darkness.

Next was the newly discovered Uchiha clan genius, Shisui Uchiha.

Now that he had become Leaf Village's puppet for researching Hashirama Cells, with a little planning, he should be able to fall into darkness as well.

The last one was a kid named Uchiha Obito, who seemed to possess only mediocre talent.

But in Madara Uchiha's discerning eyes—

This kid possessed tremendous potential.

"...I'll observe a little longer."

After pondering for a long time, Old Madara spoke again.

That brat Nagato was still growing as well.

With the power of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, he could hold on for a while longer.

Whether to choose Shisui Uchiha or Uchiha Obito—

He needed to carefully weigh his options.

Several months later.

Leaf Village Ninja Academy.

Inside the large tiered classroom, the first round of this year's Chunin Exams was underway in full swing.

Of course, it was impossible to gather examinees from ninja villages across numerous countries together for an exam like in Naruto Uzumaki's future era.

Only Leaf Village genin were present.

Uchiha Obito clutched his head with both hands, his entire body trembling wildly. The word "coward" might as well have been written across his face.

"W-what do I do? I'm dead, I'm so dead..."

He looked up at the dwindling time remaining, then at the test paper on his desk, where he had written nothing but his name.

Obito felt his mentality completely collapse.

Tap~

Suddenly, Obito felt something lightly bump against his leg beneath the desk.

Looking down, he saw a crumpled paper ball had landed between his feet.

"T-this is..."

While Nawaki, who was proctoring from the podium, was not paying attention—

Obito quietly picked up the paper ball and unfolded it.

Delicate handwriting entered his view, making Obito freeze.

He turned his head and looked around.

Just two seats away, a beautiful face that had filled his thoughts for months came into focus before his eyes.

Obito felt his heart violently tremble.

"Ten minutes until the papers are collected."

Nawaki's reminder from the podium swiftly pulled Obito out of his lovestruck daze. He hurriedly copied the contents of the paper ball onto his exam sheet.

"This brat..."

Nawaki secretly shook his head on the podium.

Even if he was not much of a ninja himself—

Did Obito really think such clumsy cheating could escape his eyes?

But after thinking it over, Nawaki decided to let the kid off.

They both came from renowned families, and they were both dead last.

That made Nawaki feel a little more inclined to look after Obito.

But what made Nawaki even more curious was—

Why was Shisui Uchiha, the genius who had graduated from the Ninja Academy at the tender age of five, not taking the exam?

Did Senior Orochimaru think it was still too early for him to participate in the Chunin Exams?

In the faculty lounge next to the tiered classroom where the first written test was taking place—

Genetsu sat across from Orochimaru.

Genetsu's right arm draped over the top of the sofa behind him. With one leg crossed over the other, he lightly raised his left hand and asked Orochimaru:

"How's that Uchiha kid under you doing?"

"Oh? Genetsu, who has always been indifferent to everything, is actually interested in Shisui? What wind is blowing today?"

Orochimaru revealed his usual eerie smile.

Genetsu leaned back and chuckled.

That girl named Anko Mitarashi, who was a year older than Shisui, was still at the Ninja Academy and had yet to graduate.

If he put himself in Shisui's position, Shisui's fate should have been to receive the Curse Mark of Heaven.

But Genetsu remembered that although Anko became Orochimaru's disciple in the original story, she had not disappeared without a trace like Shisui.

It was probably not as simple as the Curse Mark of Heaven.

"Just kidding. Since Genetsu is so curious, there's naturally no need for me to hide it."

Orochimaru's smile deepened, but his expression soon turned more solemn as he continued:

"However, I truly never expected Uchiha blood and the First Hokage's cells to fuse so perfectly. Other than Shisui, every other test subject died..."

"It's already begun?"

A strange glint flashed through Genetsu's eyes, but it was not enough to make him lose his composure.

"Already?"

Orochimaru keenly caught those two words in Genetsu's statement and smiled.

"It seems Genetsu had long anticipated that Sensei and the others were researching the First Hokage's cells~"

"It's nothing. After all, Wood Style has already been lost. The village has no way to perfectly suppress the Nine-Tails, so it was only natural that they would want to artificially create another First Hokage."

Genetsu continued:

"And then? What do you intend to do with Shisui Uchiha, the only Uchiha who received the First Hokage's cells and survived?"

"..."

At this point, Orochimaru fell silent. About two minutes passed before he spoke again.

"Genetsu, can you keep this confidential?"

"I only asked out of curiosity in the first place. Besides, didn't you keep quiet about me killing Sarutobi Shinnosuke? What benefit would there be in telling anyone?"

Genetsu asked with a laugh.

Hearing that, Orochimaru relaxed considerably, though he still instinctively lowered his voice.

"Although he survived, he still cannot perfectly control Wood Style. Lord Danzo told Sarutobi-sensei that Shisui Uchiha had died, but in reality, he hid him in the deepest part of the Root base, intending to use him as one of his own pieces."

Genetsu slightly raised his brows.

That old bastard Danzo really had something up his sleeve.

He had thought Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi's split had happened after the Third Great Ninja War ended.

He had not expected it to begin this early.

"After all, Lord Danzo's strength has entered its period of decline. He can no longer maintain Kage-level power, so it is understandable for him to keep a trump card in reserve."

Orochimaru smiled.

"Regarding this genius's 'death,' Sarutobi-sensei has an enormous headache as well. He only wants to delay for as long as possible, but once the Uchiha clan finds out, who knows what will happen then~"

This year's Chunin Exams passed without much incident.

With the genius Shisui Uchiha absent, Hatake Kakashi became the only person in this year's exams to pass and successfully advance to chunin.

To celebrate his student's successful promotion to chunin, Minato Namikaze even used his less-than-generous wallet to reserve a private room at a barbecue restaurant.

For Kakashi's celebration.

Yet the three students at the table all sat there in awkward silence, making even someone as sunny as him unable to stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.

Kakashi, Obito, and Asuma ignored one another, with no intention whatsoever of talking.

They simply could not stand each other.

This state of affairs had lasted for several months, ever since the members of Minato's Team had been decided.

And it had never changed.

Was this really going to be okay?

While Minato Namikaze celebrated Kakashi's promotion, Hiruzen Sarutobi paced back and forth in the Hokage's Office, his head throbbing painfully.

A few days earlier, Danzo had reported that the First Hokage cell experiment had failed. Every test subject, including Shisui Uchiha, had died.

Shisui Uchiha was dead?!

The news frightened Hiruzen Sarutobi into breaking out in a cold sweat.

At the same time, he realized that his earlier decision to hand Shisui over to Orochimaru and Danzo for experimentation—

Had been a terribly grave mistake.

After all these years, the Uchiha clan had finally produced a genius.

And now he was dead just like that.

How was he supposed to explain this to the Uchiha clan?

What if they rebelled because of this?

Well, he was not actually that afraid of an Uchiha rebellion.

Though the current Uchiha clan could not be underestimated—

With the power he held in his hands, suppressing them would be effortless.

But what would happen after suppressing them?

Would he tell the other ninja clans and villagers that the Uchiha had rebelled because his human experiments had killed their genius?

If that happened, the benevolent image he had cultivated for so many years would be destroyed in an instant.