Yamanaka Kizuki

Hyuga Asana's words snapped him awake like a single sentence dispelling a dream.

Uchiha Yuan finally understood why the Third Hokage had been paying attention to him.

A member of the Uchiha Clan who awakened the Sharingan at ten years old was not worth the Third Hokage's attention, but when that Uchiha Clan member's only two friends were members of the Hyūga Clan and the Yamanaka Clan, the meaning became completely different.

The Hyūga Clan and the Yamanaka Clan were firmly in the Hokage's faction.

Uchiha Yuan being friends with Hyuga Asana and Yamanaka Kizuki meant that he, a member of the Uchiha Clan, had a chance of being won over.

A genius of the Uchiha Clan who could be brought over to his side carried an entirely different significance.

Once Uchiha Yuan leaned toward the Hokage's side, it would be equivalent to the Third Hokage planting his own eyes and ears within the Uchiha Clan.

If Uchiha Yuan could grow strong, perhaps he could even climb into the upper ranks of the Uchiha Clan, or even the Police Force. By then, there would be far more room to maneuver.

After figuring all this out, a layer of cold sweat seeped out across Uchiha Yuan's forehead.

"Sorry, Asana. This time, I dragged you into this," Uchiha Yuan said, somewhat guiltily.

"If you know you've dragged me into it, then hurry up and get stronger! Once we're on the battlefield, I'm leaving my back to you!"

Uchiha Yuan nodded. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as much as possible, then began today's sparring.

After the sparring ended, the two of them collapsed by the river as usual.

"Yuan, call our other teammate over tomorrow!" Hyuga Asana suddenly said.

"Call Yamanaka Kizuki over?"

"Right. We're graduating in six days. I want to know his strength in advance."

"Fine! But I think we'd better not bring him to the riverside."

"Then let's use a training ground in the village! Since this time the Third Hokage deliberately had someone leak the team assignments, we can meet openly too," Hyuga Asana said.

"Mm, got it. Then let's meet at Training Ground No. 3 tomorrow! That training ground is relatively close to all three of our homes."

Hyuga Asana thought for a moment about the location of Training Ground No. 3, then nodded in agreement.

After arriving in class, Uchiha Yuan called Yamanaka Kizuki over and told him about meeting at Training Ground No. 3 at five tomorrow morning.

When Yamanaka Kizuki heard it, he immediately nodded and agreed. This meeting method, which was just like something only ninjas would have, made him extremely excited.

At four-thirty the next morning, Yamanaka Kizuki arrived at Training Ground No. 3 half an hour early.

He had originally thought he would be the first to arrive, but to his surprise, Hyuga Asana was already there.

Hyuga Asana's image and bearing were completely different from when she was at the Ninja Academy.

At the Ninja Academy, Hyuga Asana had always followed behind Hyuga Chiwa, and her way of dressing, like most women of the Hyūga Clan, looked very ladylike.

It was just that at the Ninja Academy, Hyuga Asana had always worn that expressionless look, and aside from Hyuga Chiwa, she had been indifferent to everything else.

Today, however, Hyuga Asana was dressed in white sportswear, and her shoulder-length hair had been tied up on top of her head so it would not affect her movements. At first glance, she gave off an extremely capable impression.

After Hyuga Asana saw Yamanaka Kizuki arrive, she stopped the training movements she was doing and raised her head to look at him. Under her sharp gaze, Yamanaka Kizuki instantly felt the pressure pile on.

So when Hyuga Chiwa isn't around, Hyuga Asana feels this openly sharp? Yamanaka Kizuki thought.

"Yo! You're both here already!" The greeting that rang out from behind broke the stagnant atmosphere.

Seeing that Uchiha Yuan had arrived, Yamanaka Kizuki hurriedly ran over and greeted him. "Morning, Yuan. Good morning!"

When Uchiha Yuan heard that, he understood something. He turned his head and glanced at Hyuga Asana, and Hyuga Asana said rather helplessly, "I didn't do anything."

Yamanaka Kizuki was not stupid either. When he saw Uchiha Yuan and Hyuga Asana interacting so familiarly, he immediately understood that the relationship between the two of them was probably quite good.

Then that way they acted in class, as if they had never spoken to each other at all, was all fake?

As if Hyuga Asana had seen through what Yamanaka Kizuki was thinking, she said in an even tone, "We simply don't want Miss Chiwa to know about our relationship, because Miss Chiwa hates people from the Uchiha Clan."

"Asana—cough, cough! I mean, Classmate Asana, don't worry. I definitely won't tell anyone."

Yamanaka Kizuki had originally wanted to call Hyuga Asana by her name directly, but he was frightened off by her cold gaze.

"You can call me by my name directly. We'll be teammates from now on, so there's no need to be so restrained," Hyuga Asana said.

"Same for me, though you've been calling me that for a while already," Uchiha Yuan added.

"Th-then you can call me Kizuki directly too," Yamanaka Kizuki hurriedly said.

"Good. Then, Kizuki, please give us a self-introduction. Tell us your general situation," Uchiha Yuan said.

Yamanaka Kizuki nodded. After organizing his words for a moment, he said, "My name is Yamanaka Kizuki. My Chakra attributes are water and earth. I know one C-rank Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall. I don't know any Water Style for now. As for Basic Ninjutsu—"

"Stop! There's no need to talk about those things. Mainly tell us about your Yamanaka Clan's mental secret techniques!" Hyuga Asana interrupted Yamanaka Kizuki.

"I'm only average at cultivating our clan's mental secret techniques. I still can't do things like invading and reading the memories of the dead."

"What about the Mind Body Switch Technique?" Uchiha Yuan asked.

"That's the foundation of our Yamanaka Clan's mental secret techniques. Of course I know it," Yamanaka Kizuki answered.

"Do you know the technique that links the three of our minds together so we can communicate?" Hyuga Asana asked.

"You mean the Mind Transfer Body Technique? I know that too, but you can't be too far away from me."

"What's the specific distance?" Uchiha Yuan asked.

"My mental perception range is about fifteen meters. The Mind Body Clone Technique's effective range should be about the same."

After hearing Yamanaka Kizuki's words, Uchiha Yuan and Hyuga Asana exchanged a glance.

To be honest, Yamanaka Kizuki's level really was not that great. He was even worse than Ino Yamanaka right after she graduated in the original work.

One had to know that when Ino graduated, Konoha had already been at peace on the surface for many years. Ninja in that era had naturally grown somewhat slack.

But now was wartime. Having only this level in wartime—wasn't that basically a reserve cannon fodder slot?

However, Uchiha Yuan and Hyuga Asana were considered high-spec among Genin. If Yamanaka Kizuki was only providing support, there should be no problem.

Thinking this, Uchiha Yuan said, "Kizuki, there's quite a gap between your strength and ours, but your clan's secret techniques are still very useful. From now on, your role in our squad will mainly be support.

As long as you do your own job well, I think we should be able to become good teammates."

I've seen the questions and suggestions everyone has raised so far. One reader even gave a lot of suggestions. Thank you all for the feedback, but for now, the things everyone mentioned actually aren't problems—they just haven't been written yet. Just be patient and keep reading.