Half an hour later.
The Sarutobi Clan compound.
Looking at Uchiha Akira and Kurenai Yuhi standing before him, Asuma Sarutobi drew in an incredulous breath. Kurenai, do you mean you want Uchiha Akira to teach me how to grow stronger?
He pointed at the fifteen-year-old Uchiha Akira.
Then he pointed at himself, already twenty-one years old.
In other words, in Kurenai's eyes, he was still inferior to a fifteen-year-old child?
Well, um, there is no problem with you understanding it that way.
Kurenai felt a bit guilty. She had only just realized that Akira seemed to be much younger than them.
Yet who told Akira to be so tall, acting like a veteran cadre day in and day out, planting flowers and grasses, to the point that she had overlooked Akira's age.
"Impossible!"
Asuma refused without even thinking. I am already a Jonin, and a mere Uchiha who hasn't even awakened the Sharingan does not have the qualifications to teach me.
Tsk.
Uchiha Akira smacked his lips. The current Asuma.
At twenty-one years of age.
He was not yet the calm figure from the original story. How should he put it? The current Asuma was a bit like Boruto Uzumaki later on—equally looking down on his father, the Third Hokage, and equally eager to prove himself, which made his personality somewhat arrogant.
Somewhat rebellious.
And a tiny bit crazy.
Yet wanting to stop him from obtaining rewards? Absolutely no one could do that!
"Is that so? Asuma."
Uchiha Akira's dark eyes slowly gazed at him. At fifteen, his height was already no less impressive than Asuma's. When your father was twenty-one, he was already a Kage-level expert, and you are currently nothing more than a Jonin.
What—are you proud of?
Asuma abruptly raised his head, fury burning in his eyes, and his figure shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring. Uchiha Akira, you are courting death!
What he hated most was being saddled with the identity of the Third Hokage's son.
Yet his strength and talent falling short of his father's remained a pain he could not avoid!
In the blink of an eye.
The two of them had already exchanged dozens of blows, evenly matched, even when resorting to ninjutsu.
Asuma was deeply shaken. You haven't even awakened your eyes yet; how could you possibly reach the level of a Jonin at fifteen?!
Most importantly, the opponent's attacks were immensely heavy and forceful.
Even he found them difficult to endure.
"Is this truly the extent of it?" Disappointment laced Akira's tone.
"What?" Asuma was stunned.
"I mean, if this is all the strength you possess, you can prepare to lose." Instantly, bright red eye-shadow appeared around Uchiha Akira's eyes, with crimson double-circle markings on his forehead, adding a trace of divinity to him. Sage Mode!
His figure seemed to begin vanishing.
Clearly he could be seen right before their eyes, yet his presence was completely uncapturable.
Swish—!
Breaking the speed of sound rapidly, the sonic boom was deafening. Asuma's vision blurred, and his entire body doubled over like a shrimp, sent flying backward to lose consciousness.
[Ding! Congratulations to Lord Hashirama for completing the quest. Lord Hashirama successfully made Asuma realize his own strength. Strength is the true capital for arrogance, and aside from Lord Hashirama, no one has the right to be arrogant!]
[Quest reward: Wood Dragon Technique!]
"Asuma!"
Kurenai cried out in alarm, hurrying over. "Akira, is he alright?"
"Relax, he merely passed out." Akira had not used his full strength just now, employing only about thirty percent of his enhanced physical prowess.
Even so.
It was not something a Jonin could withstand.
Yet this simultaneously made Kurenai's lovely eyes tremble slightly. Akira, you... are you currently an Elite Jonin or... a Kage-level?
To defeat a Jonin with such speed required at least the strength of an Elite Jonin.
By comparison, she herself was still only a Special Jonin.
A fifteen-year-old Elite Jonin.
Furthermore, without even awakening the Sharingan, what a brilliantly breathtaking talent Akira possessed!
At that very moment.
Two figures materialized in an instant, wearing tiger and wild-wolf masks respectively. Akira intended to pretend he hadn't seen them and slip away stealthily, shoving his hands into his pockets and whistling as he sauntered off at a leisurely pace.
Anbu: "???"
The tiger-masked Anbu hurriedly said, "Uchiha Akira, the Lord Hokage summons you. Please come with me!"
"Fine, fine."
Tsk.
Though they were at odds on the surface, during the gaps of secretly peeping at the bathhouse every single day, the man still remembered to carve out time to check on his good son.
Naturally, Akira did not believe that an idle person like him could be watched by Hiruzen Sarutobi every single day.
Let him watch, then.
Why call him over, though!
"I'm coming too!"
Kurenai quickly followed, while the wild-wolf-masked Anbu carried Asuma toward the hospital.
The Hokage Building, office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, feeling completely baffled.
Wait, Uchiha Akira?
He knew him. Who in all of Konoha didn't know this Uchiha who loved lingering around the Senju Clan? He didn't even bother attending Uchiha clan meetings, single-mindedly sleeping away his days in the Senju Clan, and during the Third Ninja World War, his performance hadn't been anything special either.
How, in the blink of an eye, did he display strength rivaling an Elite Jonin?
Especially the floral face-paint pattern on Akira's face just now—he remembered it very clearly. That was the appearance the First Hokage assumed when executing Sage Mode.
A ninja who had mastered Sage Mode.
Becoming a Kage-level expert was an absolute certainty!
What worried him was that at a time when friction between the village and the Uchiha was escalating, Uchiha Akira's strength would give the Uchiha Clan even more arrogant backing!
"Huh?"
Peering through the crystal ball at Uchiha Akira, who was hesitating at the door and unwilling to enter, Hiruzen's face darkened. "Get in here! What are you dawdling out there for!"
Only then did Akira reluctantly shuffle into the Hokage's office.
Heh.
You must admit.
Walking inside, there was a sense of returning home. He wanted to sit right in the Hokage's chair... but then he saw Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression—one that carried a trace of aged majesty, a trace of benevolence within that majesty, and a trace of 1.5-tongue complexity within that benevolence.
Hm?
Hiruzen Sarutobi... wouldn't happen to be trying to settle scores on behalf of his good son, would he?
Hiss—!
Akira drew in a sharp breath. The head of a pyramid-scheme syndicate seeking personal revenge?
"Akira, what do you think of our village?" Hiruzen said affably.
Splendid.
The pyramid scheme boss tossed out a question.
The problem was: What do you think of Konoha as a pyramid-scheme organization?
It looked like a question.
In reality, it was a compulsory multiple-choice test.
Everyone harboring rebellious intent had ultimately ended up dead; of course, aside from the undying Orochimaru.
"As a member of the village, seeing Konoha as it is today breaks my heart!"
Uchiha Akira said with grief and indignation. "Konoha was once the leader of the ninja world, with all ninja villages bowing in submission to us. Yet now they actually dare to be so audacious as to wage war against Konoha! All of this stems from the village's current lack of strength!"
"If the village's strength were somewhat greater, and my own strength somewhat greater, how could we possibly allow Konoha to suffer such humiliation?"
In the depths of his eyes, there was no criticism directed at the village.
Only agonizing hatred for his own insufficient strength!
Hiruzen Sarutobi wore a blank expression. "???"
Oh no.
He started off with a stance so grand—this fellow was clearly aiming for his position as Hokage!
"Actually, there's no need to blame yourself so harshly."
Hiruzen hurriedly offered comfort, fearing that if Akira continued, he himself would appear entirely unqualified to be Hokage. "Ahem, Akira, what are your views... on the current relationship between the village and the Uchiha?"
His voice paused.
The gaze he directed at Akira carried a scrutinizing assessment. The ninjas of the Uchiha Clan tended to be extreme; even after all these years, only three ninjas who stood on Konoha's side had ever emerged.
What kind of resolve did the Uchiha before him possess?
Before you continue