The Powerful Sage Body!

Yo knew he was definitely going to be up all night. There was no helping it—he was too excited to sleep!

Since he couldn't sleep,

he might as well stay up.

Yo got up and changed into his regular clothes. After glancing at his little brother, who was still sound asleep beside him, he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Whoosh!

Yo vanished into thin air without leaving a trace.

Meanwhile,

in the forest behind Konoha,

Yo appeared silently beneath a tree, like a ghost.

An inconspicuous Taiji Symbol was marked on the trunk.

It was one of the Flying Thunder God Formulas Yo had inscribed in advance.

In fact, ever since he had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique a year ago,

Yo had left Flying Thunder God Formulas in many places.

He had done this for two reasons.

First, convenience.

Second, safety.

Yo had never forgotten his circumstances. As a survivor of the "evil Uchiha Clan,"

he and Sasuke seemed safe, but a sword had always hung over their heads.

And that was without even considering what the Third Hokage truly thought.

Shimura Danzō, that old snake, had a pathological obsession with the Sharingan. He alone was enough to make Yo stay on his guard at all times.

These Flying Thunder God Formulas scattered in various places were Yo's fallback plan.

At the first sign of danger, he could flee a thousand miles in an instant and escape somewhere safe.

"With the huge amount of chakra supplied by the Sage Body, using Flying Thunder God repeatedly and teleporting over long distances shouldn't be a problem anymore!"

Yo turned and looked toward the dense forest cloaked in darkness. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

"Now then... let's get familiar with how much chakra this new body has given me!"

The first test: distance!

Yo sensed a very discreet mark on a distant cliff.

Whoosh!

Yo vanished abruptly and appeared out of thin air on the cliff, ten kilometers away, almost in the same instant.

"Success!"

Yo was elated.

At that distance, he would previously have needed to use Flying Thunder God three times in succession to cover the ground.

Now, he had done it in one!

The second test:

consecutive Flying Thunder God jumps!

Yo began making unpredictable consecutive body flickers through the woods.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Yo flashed among the treetops, across the ground, and behind rocks.

One moment he appeared to the east, only to instantly reappear to the west; then he leaped high into the air, or raced along close to the ground.

"The chakra cost of these consecutive jumps is completely manageable!"

"Before, I'd feel strained after three in a row at most. Now..."

Yo silently kept count. He made dozens of consecutive jumps through the forest before he felt his chakra drop slightly.

But it recovered at an incredible rate, replenishing itself after just a few breaths.

His recovery was far faster than his consumption. It was ridiculous!

The third test:

Flying Thunder God Slash!

Yo found an open patch of ground where he had set up several wooden posts for practicing Kunai throws.

Whoosh!

Yo hurled a Kunai at one of the posts.

The instant the Kunai struck the post, Yo appeared right behind it, thrusting the Shuriken in his hand at the wood.

Whoosh!

Yo vanished and appeared behind another post, sweeping the Shuriken in his hand sideways.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Yo kept appearing—

and vanishing again.

His attacks followed no discernible pattern. They were completely unpredictable.

Flying Thunder God Slash freed him from the constraints of conventional taijutsu.

He could launch a deadly strike from any angle.

"This is a true assassination technique. Was this how the Fourth Hokage made his enemies tremble in fear back then?"

"It'll be dawn soon! I should try out Fire Release Ninjutsu too!"

Before he knew it,

the sky had begun to lighten.

Yo stopped moving and panted softly, but his eyes shone brilliantly.

The high-intensity testing that had lasted most of the night had given him a much deeper understanding of the Sage Body.

He really did have a lot of chakra!

His recovery really was fast!

His vitality really was strong!

His stamina really was incredible!

"Right now, I have at least the strength of someone at the peak of Kage Level!"

Yo clenched his fist. "I'll never have to keep my head down again!"

He had kept a low profile before to stay alive, so that the old snake Danzō wouldn't set his sights on him.

But now?

What was this "keeping a low profile" nonsense?

He was already this powerful—why the hell should he keep a low profile?

If Danzō still wanted to scheme against him, he could bring it on!

The Hokage Building.

Smoke filled the office.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat behind his desk, pipe in hand, frowning at the file in front of him.

At that moment, the longest-serving old Hokage in Konoha was troubled by the task of assigning teams to the graduating students.

Every year around this time,

the final decision fell to him, the Hokage: he had to divide the graduates into teams and assign them suitable Jōnin instructors.

This concerned the development of Konoha's next generation, so there was no room for carelessness.

Most of the students were easy to place. The Ino-Shika-Cho clans' traditional team, for instance, had an established arrangement.

The real headache lay with this year's few special cases:

Uzumaki Naruto!

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. His identity was special and crucial, and he was the village's most important weapon—one that needed to remain stable above all else.

Uchiha Sasuke!

One of the last surviving members of the Uchiha Clan. He had exceptional talent, but his heart was consumed by hatred, and his personality was extreme.

Uchiha Yao!

Sasuke's twin brother, also a surviving member of the Uchiha Clan.

Unlike his cold younger brother, Yo was cheerful and sociable, and excelled in both taijutsu and theory.

He was popular among his classmates and the top student of his graduating class.

"This child, Yo..."

The Third Hokage drew on his pipe and slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, his gaze deep and contemplative.

There was nothing to fault about Yo's excellence, and his social skills were impeccable.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't shake the feeling that Yo acted far too mature for his age!

"Could he be another Itachi, a child with a Hokage's way of thinking? If so, that would be fine!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi massaged his temples. Uchiha Itachi wasn't frightening; what he feared was another Madara Uchiha.

"Naruto needs proper guidance and supervision. Sasuke needs to be kept in check and guided, too. And this Yo..."

The Third Hokage lightly tapped Yo's file photograph with his finger. It showed a black-haired boy smiling warmly in the sunlight.

He seemed not to need anything at all, which only made him more unsettling!

So, how should he assign these three important students?

Should he separate them and place each in a relatively ordinary team?

Or put them together under a Jōnin capable enough to handle the responsibility?

If they were put together,

which Jōnin had the ability, patience, and reliability to manage them?

Someone who could handle both a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and Uchiha survivors?

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The sound of a cane striking the floor broke the silence in the office.

The door swung open, and Shimura Danzō walked in.

Half his body was wrapped in bandages, leaving only his sharp left eye exposed.

A cold aura surrounded him, like a venomous snake.

"Hiruzen!"

Danzō's voice was hoarse and direct, with no attempt at small talk:

"Leave Uchiha Yao from this year's class to me. I'll train him!"

It wasn't a question.

It sounded more like an order!

The Third Hokage paused with his pipe in hand. He didn't even raise his eyelids, only slowly blowing out a ring of smoke.

"No!"

Danzō immediately furrowed his brows and struck his cane hard against the floor.

"Why? He's just an evil Uchiha brat!"

"Yo is the best student in his class. He's a rare talent!"

The Third Hokage finally looked up, gazing at his old friend through the smoke.

"He has a bright future ahead of him. He shouldn't join Root and be trained by you into an emotionless tool!"

"A tool?"

Danzō sneered, a mocking glint flashing in his single eye.

"Have you forgotten the mysterious Uchiha who controlled the Nine-Tails on the night of the Nine-Tails Incident?"

The Third Hokage fell silent.

"The Uchiha Clan is evil by nature. Their Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, is the source of instability!"

Danzō said coldly, "If we let a brat like that grow unchecked, who can guarantee he won't become the next Madara?"

He stepped closer, lowering his voice, but making it all the more oppressive.

"Only by handing him over to me and letting Root guide him can we ensure his absolute loyalty to Konoha!"

"Don't forget Itachi!"

The Third Hokage's voice suddenly rose, his tone sharpening.

"We promised him that we would take care of his two younger brothers!"

"That was our promise to honor his sacrifice! It was also our final answer to the Uchiha Clan!"

At the mention of Itachi, the air in the office seemed to freeze for an instant.

Uchiha Itachi!

He had severed every tie with his own hands.

He had borne all the darkness.

All to secure peace for the village!

"A promise?"

Danzō scoffed, a look of derision flashing in his single eye.

"For the sake of the village's safety, a personal promise means nothing!"

Then Danzō changed tack, his voice dropping low. "Hiruzen, you probably don't know this yet, do you?"

The Third Hokage furrowed his brows. "Danzō, what are you trying to say?"

Danzō leaned forward slightly and casually dropped a bombshell.

"Based on Root's long-term observations and analysis, this brat named Uchiha Yao has most likely mastered some kind of space-time ninjutsu!"

The Third Hokage's expression froze. Uchiha Yao... had mastered a space-time ninjutsu?

What a joke!

"Judging from how he vanished and reappeared without any warning..."

Danzo continued, "The technique he's mastered is most likely the Flying Thunder God Technique, created by the Second Lord!"

"That's impossible!"

The Third Hokage abruptly raised his head, his voice firm and decisive.

"The Flying Thunder God Technique is an S-rank space-time ninjutsu. It's incredibly difficult to learn and demands an exceptional level of talent!"

"Ever since Minato's sacrifice, no one in the village has been able to master it!"

"How could a student from the Ninja Academy learn it?"

"Heh!"

Danzo gave a hoarse, scornful laugh.

"Impossible? Hiruzen, have you sat in that seat so long that peace has blinded you?"

Danzo struck the ground hard with his cane and said coldly, "All these years, my Root has never once stopped keeping an eye on the Uchiha orphans!"

"Everything was normal at first. Yo was just a Uchiha brat with slightly better-than-average talent!"

"But!"

"Starting a year ago, that brat began mysteriously disappearing from Root's surveillance every now and then!"

"How did he leave?"

"What method did he use?"

"Where did he go?"

"We had no way of knowing!"

"Our sensory ninja couldn't track him at all!"

Root... had ninja with all kinds of bizarre abilities.

Keeping an eye on a Uchiha brat all year round wasn't difficult at all.

"Something like that happened?"

The Third Hokage was stunned.

He knew Danzo was underhanded, but he also knew Danzo wouldn't make things up when it came to something like this.

If Yo really could repeatedly evade Root's surveillance and leave the village,

then ordinary invisibility or stealth techniques were out of the question.

There was a barrier around the village!

A space-time ninjutsu really was the only reasonable explanation!

And the Flying Thunder God Technique, famous throughout the shinobi world, was a very likely candidate.

Of course, other possibilities couldn't be ruled out, such as the Reverse Summoning Technique.

"Hiruzen, you underestimate him!"

Danzo looked at the Third Hokage. "That brat is far more dangerous—and far more valuable—than we ever imagined!"

"Letting him stay out in the open is the irresponsible thing to do!"

Danzo left after delivering one final remark.

"That brat has been going out more often lately. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself tonight!"

"See just how many secrets the genius you call 'a bright future' is hiding!"