I Want to Take Him as My Disciple Personally!

Hiruzen Sarutobi was startled by their reactions and began to feel unsure. "Huh... y-yes. Torifu did say it was Crystal Release."

Senju Hashirama was overjoyed!

"Quick! Tell us everything!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately replied in earnest. "I saw Torifu use two jutsu. With the first, after he was hit by a Great Fireball, his whole body turned into a crystal statue. But I think it was more like a branch of the Substitution Technique."

"The second was his ability to create countless crystal shuriken out of thin air. They were more powerful and faster than ordinary shuriken, and came in such a dense barrage that they were difficult to dodge."

Senju Tobirama pondered for a while after hearing this. "It seems that kid has been able to use Crystal Release for some time. Otherwise, how could he have learned those jutsu? I've never heard of a Kekkei Genkai like Crystal Release."

Senju Hashirama nodded in agreement. He had already thought highly of Kumonaka Torikaze and believed he could learn Cloud Release, but he hadn't expected Torikaze's talent to be even greater than he'd imagined!

Seeing that the two lords were in good spirits, Hiruzen Sarutobi ventured to ask, "Just now, Lord Hokage and Lord Tobirama mentioned Cloud Release. Could Torikaze have mastered a second Kekkei Genkai transformation as well?"

Senju Hashirama shook his head. "You really don't know much about your students. You don't even know about the Kumonaka Clan?"

At those words, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately felt deeply ashamed and apologized repeatedly.

"Young people should keep learning. If one of your students asks you a difficult question someday and you can't answer, won't you lose their respect?"

"Lord Tobirama is right. I've been slacking off lately."

Senju Hashirama's laughter broke the somewhat heavy mood. "Hahaha, it's all right, it's all right. Go ask Sasuke when you get back. He definitely knows about the Kumonaka Clan."

After thanking them profusely, Hiruzen Sarutobi left the Hokage Office. Being criticized by Lord Hokage and Lord Tobirama for not knowing enough was the greatest embarrassment of his life. He swore he'd never let anything like that happen again!

Inside the office, Hashirama and Tobirama began discussing Kumonaka Torikaze's Crystal Release.

"Big Brother, I don't think we need to keep observing that kid. This morning, Kagami told me some things he'd said. I think he has a good head on his shoulders and a solid temperament."

"Mm, I think so too."

Tobirama was in a good mood. Taking a genius like that as a student would surely make teaching him much easier.

"Then I'll take him on, and we can teach him together."

"No! This time, I'm going to take him as my student personally."

Tobirama hadn't expected his Big Brother to say that, but it didn't surprise him. After all, Hashirama was the only one who had mastered Wood Release. Perhaps he could offer more help in developing Kekkei Genkai techniques.

He came up with all sorts of explanations for why his Big Brother wanted to take Torikaze on personally. If Hashirama had known, he would have burst out laughing.

The truth was that Hashirama simply wanted a student of his own. Though the two of them taught Tobirama's six students together, they weren't his own disciples. He'd always wanted to take on a student, but Konoha had so few talented children that hardly any truly impressed him.

Then, a month ago, Kumonaka Torikaze appeared. Before that, Hashirama had never met Torikaze. He'd only known that Kumonaka Yama had a son, the Kumonaka Clan's only child.

But Hashirama had been stunned the first time he met the boy. His small body held enough Chakra to rival a first-rate ninja. Hashirama had thought he might learn the Kumonaka Clan's secret Cloud Release techniques, but he hadn't expected him to have mastered the unprecedented Kekkei Genkai, Crystal Release, too.

A child's potential really was limitless.

"If that child grows up, he might even become stronger than me."

Tobirama glanced at his Big Brother. "Who knows?"

Who knew whether he'd even make it to adulthood? The future was impossible to predict. There had never been a shortage of geniuses, but most of them died young, all because of the reputation that came with being a genius.

"Where is the boy?" Senju Hashirama asked.

"I'll send someone to find him."

Kumonaka Torikaze had no idea the Hokage wanted to take him as his student personally. He'd only hoped to become one of the Second Hokage's disciples. Unfortunately, he'd underestimated his own talent.

Of Tobirama's six disciples, perhaps only Hiruzen Sarutobi and Kagami Uchiha could match Torikaze's talent for now.

For now, that was. Kumonaka Torikaze's talent wasn't fixed.

"Torikaze, could we order more meat? I'm still hungry."

Kumonaka Torikaze looked at the stack of empty plates on the table in surprise. How could this little girl eat so much when she was only six? Still, he'd told her to eat as much as she wanted, so that was what she could do. He wasn't short of a little money.

"Boss, another twenty plates of meat!"

The boss was naturally all smiles at the arrival of such a big-spending customer. He promised to bring it out right away.

Chirori felt a little embarrassed, but for some reason, she never felt like putting on airs and acting like a proper young lady around Torikaze.

"Torikaze, can your wallet handle this?"

Kumonaka Torikaze waved a hand. "This is nothing. I'm more worried about whether your stomach can handle it."

Chirori struck a determined pose. "Of course! Every night when I get home, I have my big brother spar with me, so I need a good lunch!"

That was the opposite of Kumonaka Torikaze. He was afraid that eating too much would affect his evening training, so he only ate until he was about eighty percent full at lunch.

He knew his current weakness very well. Although the system had given him the strength of a Chunin, his Taijutsu was weak, so he trained every evening to improve it.

Before long, the boss wheeled over a small cart loaded with twenty plates of meat. Whether out of kindness or to keep his two big spenders coming back, he'd also thrown in an extra plate of meat and some vegetables.

"Torikaze, let's spar sometime, too!"

Kumonaka Torikaze smiled. "What made you think of that all of a sudden?"

Chirori's expression was serious, as if she weren't joking. "I want to know how big the gap between us is."

Torikaze rubbed his nose. "I'm really weak. The kind of weak where I'd die if someone hit me. Maybe we shouldn't."

Kumonaka Torikaze had hoped to bluff his way out of it, but Chirori showed no sign of letting him off. She stared right at him, making him feel a little embarrassed.

"All right, all right, I'll do it. Eat up!"

Chirori smiled sweetly, then seemed to remember something serious. Her expression turned solemn again.

"Torikaze, you have to be careful of one person!"

"Who?"

Chirori's expression was grave. She wasn't joking at all.

"Uchiha Setsuna."