In Leaf Village: Starting Off by Slapping the White Fang

The Senju Clan had been badly weakened in the great war a year ago, existing in name only.

Meanwhile, the Uchiha had yet to produce a new-generation expert capable of representing the clan alongside Tsunade.

The two founding clans had inevitably declined.

With Hiruzen Sarutobi holding the position of Hokage, the Sarutobi Clan had risen along with him, its status in Leaf Village surpassing both the Senju and Uchiha in one stroke.

So, in Genetsu's eyes, the Sarutobi Clan were the true Celestial Dragons.

"P-Please, stop!"

Faced with the two Kage-level experts gradually approaching him,

Sarutobi Shinnosuke could only bow his head and yield in terror.

Genetsu paused, his smile growing even brighter as he said to Hatake Sakumo beside him,

"Wonderful~ He can still tell us to stop."

"Shinnosuke, take me to see Lord Hokage."

Hatake Sakumo let out a long sigh and spoke to the "companion" he had abandoned his mission to save.

"No need. Help me pass a message to your father. He'll understand what I mean right away."

Genetsu stopped him in time.

Ever since he was six years old, he had never wanted to see Hiruzen Sarutobi's old face again.

This time was no different.

Genetsu bent down and whispered something into Sarutobi Shinnosuke's ear.

Shinnosuke's expression changed drastically at once.

"Don't worry about the compensation, big brother. I'll handle it myself. Just don't be stupid enough to kill yourself."

Genetsu shot his older brother a disdainful look.

Hatake Sakumo revealed a guilty expression.

The thought of suicide had merely been an impulse caused by his fragile heart and a moment of heated emotion.

As long as he calmed down, he would no longer entertain such foolish thoughts.

"I'm heading back."

Genetsu turned and prepared to return to his little cabin on the outskirts.

He had lived there for twenty years.

"Wait, Genetsu. Since you've rarely come by, let's have a meal together."

Hatake Sakumo tried to keep him.

"...All right. There's something I want to tell you too."

After hesitating for several seconds, Genetsu nodded and agreed, then added,

"But we're eating at my place."

Half an hour later, in the Hokage's office of the Administrative Building.

"We may not matter to you, but without us, your enemies will matter a great deal to you."

Sarutobi Shinnosuke led several Sarutobi clansmen who had previously provoked Hatake Sakumo. Their legs trembled, their eyes filled with fear, as he said,

"Father... no, Lord Hokage, Hatake Gengetsu... he told us to pass that message on to you."

That slash carrying the power of an S-rank Ninjutsu had nearly skimmed across their foreheads.

Such terror was something many ninja would likely never experience in their entire lives.

"Without us, your enemies will matter a great deal to you..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi removed his pipe from his mouth and quietly repeated the latter half of the sentence.

Then Hiruzen Sarutobi stood and looked toward the rear mountain, at the stone visage that had been blasted to powder by that Sword Qi and now stood empty.

Among the seven Hokage who appeared in the original story,

Hiruzen Sarutobi's strength could probably only barely compare to Fifty-Fifty Hatake's.

But in terms of political skill—or, more precisely, underhanded tactics—

even his teacher Tobirama Senju probably could not match him.

After all, although Tobirama Senju was also skilled at dirty tricks, he could not stoop as low as his two disciples.

The message Genetsu had Shinnosuke deliver to Hiruzen Sarutobi was only that one simple sentence.

Yet the meaning it conveyed was immense.

"All right, you may leave. And Shinnosuke, stop doing those things Danzo has been having you do."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said meaningfully.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke's brow twitched. After awkwardly replying, "Yes," he led his gang of lackeys out of the Hokage's office.

"Genetsu..."

Beside the stone visage of his own teacher, Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi fell into recollection as he stared at the gaping hole blasted into his own visage.

The entire Leaf Ninja community regarded Genetsu as an Eternal Genin on the same level as Might Duy.

But they had forgotten that Genetsu had once been just like the current Three Ninja of Konoha—Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya—

a genius who graduated from the Ninja Academy after only one year!

Only a few people, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, still remembered.

Back then, Hiruzen Sarutobi had only just become Hokage, barely warming his seat.

The great clans such as the Senju and Uchiha had been deeply dissatisfied with Hiruzen Sarutobi taking over as the Third Hokage, watching him like tigers eyeing prey.

They were only restrained by the fact that it was Tobirama Senju's final order.

Moreover, neither the Senju nor the Uchiha had any Kage-level contenders at the time.

So they could only let the matter go.

Though the Hatake Clan was a small clan,

its clan head had produced two heavenly prodigies.

They were Hatake Sakumo and Hatake Gengetsu.

At eleven, Hatake Sakumo had already revealed his brilliance, practically another Itachi Uchiha.

And Genetsu had displayed talent that faintly surpassed even his older brother's.

The two brothers were collectively known as the Hatake Clan's Twin Blades.

They inevitably reminded people of the two Hokage brothers, Senju Hashirama and Tobirama Senju.

At the time, Leaf Village had all claimed that the Fourth Hokage would very likely emerge from between those two brothers.

That made Hiruzen Sarutobi deeply uneasy.

During the Warring States period, the Hatake Clan and the Sarutobi Clan had been enemies.

The father of the Hatake clan head—Hatake Sakumo and Genetsu's grandfather—had been killed by Hiruzen Sarutobi's father, Sasuke Sarutobi!

Aside from the Senju and Uchiha, those two brothers' dazzling promise was what worried Hiruzen Sarutobi the most while his position as Hokage remained unstable.

The method Hiruzen Sarutobi adopted at the time was to take the group of four who had graduated early—

and make Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya his disciples.

Taking Tsunade as a disciple was meant to placate and win over the Senju Clan.

Orochimaru had been chosen because Hiruzen Sarutobi valued his talent.

As for Jiraiya, he had been chosen purely to squeeze Genetsu out.

Because while they were in school, Genetsu had been somewhat close to Tsunade.

That had made Hiruzen Sarutobi extremely uneasy as well.

After that, Genetsu repeatedly refused to take part in the Chunin Exams and moved to the outskirts of Leaf Village, living a life that appeared detached from worldly affairs.

But now...

Looking at the deep ravine carved into the rear mountain by a sword, Hiruzen Sarutobi took another heavy draw from his pipe.

"Looks like you haven't slackened in your training one bit all these years, Genetsu..."

The new-book period on Feilu determines whether a book lives or dies. Thank you...

On the outskirts of Leaf Village, at Genetsu's little wooden cabin.

Kakashi had already fallen asleep inside.

Beside the farmland, a campfire burned.

The brothers Hatake Sakumo and Genetsu sat on opposite sides of the fire, perched on logs serving as chairs.

"The last time you came back to the village was so many years ago that I can barely remember..."

Firelight reflected across Hatake Sakumo's face as he gave a hoarse laugh.

As he recalled, it seemed to have been twenty years ago, after Genetsu had graduated early alongside the current Sannin and earned the title of genin.

At the time, Hiruzen Sarutobi had only just ascended to the position of Third Hokage when he personally selected Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya as his direct disciples.

That had greatly surprised Hatake Sakumo, who was only eleven at the time but had already become a rising star in the village.

Because based on the four of their strength rankings, if one person had to be excluded, it should have been Jiraiya!

And soon afterward, Genetsu moved away from Leaf Village.

He repeatedly refused to participate in the Chunin Exams.

He also barely accepted missions, living by growing vegetables and hunting.

Even the residence rights to this land had been purchased for him by Hatake Sakumo.

And by the time Hatake Sakumo came to his senses,

Genetsu had already become known throughout Leaf Village as the "Eternal Genin."

"Guess I was unlucky enough to be born in an era like this."

Genetsu held a wooden skewer with wild boar meat threaded onto it.

After taking a bite, Genetsu said resentfully,

"Not too early, not too late—I just had to transmigrate into this particular era..."

Transmigrate?

Era?

Hatake Sakumo blinked in confusion.

Well, just like the Celestial Dragons this morning, his little brother always blurted out words he did not understand.

Hatake Sakumo had long grown used to it.

In his previous life, Genetsu's parents had died early, and he had been raised by his grandfather.