Fastest Man in the Ninja World

Hokage Office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen gazed at the crystal ball before him like a witch.

The translucent crystal ball shifted, revealing the scene of First Year Class A.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had two sons.

His eldest son had already joined the Anbu, becoming an excellent ninja.

But his second son, Sarutobi Asuma, was at a rebellious age, constantly going against him, which exhausted his heart.

Sarutobi Hiruzen watched for a while, then couldn't help but chuckle.

Truly just a child, after all.

But competition breeds pressure.

Sarutobi Asuma, due to the title of the Hokage's son, had things too smooth at school.

With Hikawa around, perhaps this rebellious son of his might change.

"Haru."

Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke, "I want all of Hikawa's information from the past three days, right now."

"Understood."

A voice responded from the shadows.

It was the Anbu ninja, Haru.

Sarutobi Hiruzen held great hopes for Hikawa.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have snatched him back from Shimura Danzō's hands.

Now, he had also ignited Sarutobi Asuma's fighting spirit—a two birds with one stone move.

"Lord Hokage."

In less than three minutes, Haru appeared before him.

She wore a frog mask, revealing only a head of short hair.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took the documents and flipped through them, soon furrowing his brow.

As expected, Shimura Danzō hadn't fully given up, but thankfully no trouble had stirred.

He continued reading, a smile spreading across his face.

A hardworking, good child.

Just then, a knock came at the door.

"Come in."

Sarutobi Hiruzen set the documents aside casually.

"Lord Hokage."

The door opened, and a blond-haired youth entered.

"Minato."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze sharpened as he asked gravely, "What brings you here? Is it about Kushina?"

Kushina Uzumaki was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

The Nine Tailed Beasts possessed the power to destroy heaven and earth, with the Nine-Tails being the strongest.

A Jinchuriki is a person with a tailed beast sealed inside them, a village's last trump card.

But the tailed beasts' restlessness could easily cause the Jinchuriki to go berserk.

On top of that, there was the threat of enemy villages.

For instance, not long ago, Kumogakure kidnapped Kushina Uzumaki.

If not for Namikaze Minato, Konoha might have permanently lost the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

"It's Kushina—she ran out of the barrier again today."

Namikaze Minato smiled sheepishly and said, "The two Anbu ninjas protecting her were sealed up by her Sealing Technique."

"Minato, I know how you and Kushina feel about each other, but this concerns the Nine-Tails. You can't let her act so recklessly."

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe and cautioned.

"I understand!"

Namikaze Minato's expression turned serious.

"No need to be so tense."

Sarutobi Hiruzen shifted the topic with a smile, "Now that you've learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, I doubt Kushina will be kidnapped again."

The Flying Thunder God Technique, a space-time ninjutsu, allows instantaneous teleportation using Flying Thunder God seals.

For example, by planting a Flying Thunder God seal on Kushina Uzumaki, no matter how far away, Namikaze Minato could reach her instantly.

It was no exaggeration to say that from now on, he was the Fastest Man in the Ninja World.

"Is Jiraiya still in the village?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen thought of something and suddenly asked.

"He is."

Namikaze Minato explained, "Sensei has been helping me develop a new jutsu recently."

"A new jutsu?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen asked curiously, "What kind of jutsu requires both you and Jiraiya to develop it?"

"It's still a bit rough around the edges."

Namikaze Minato flashed a smile and said, "I'll show you once it's complete."

"Then I'll be waiting with great interest."

Sarutobi Hiruzen exchanged a smile with him.

The Hokage Office suddenly felt warm and harmonious.

First Year Class A.

The corner of Hikawa's mouth twitched.

Why did a ninja have to study math?

There was a saying: when pushed to the limit, a person can do anything—except math.

The problem in front of him was calculating the parabolic trajectory of a kunai.

I get the logic, but against a Susanoo, would it even be useful?

It wasn't like he was going to pull a Shimura Danzō and stab it with a kunai.

A sudden commotion broke out in the classroom.

Hikawa looked up and saw a crowd heading outside.

At the front were Hatake Kakashi and Obito Uchiha.

"Obito's challenging Kakashi again."

Shizune shook her head and said, "I've lost count of how many times I've seen this since enrollment."

"Who wins?"

Hikawa asked casually.

"Kakashi wins every time. He's the village's acknowledged genius."

Shizune said matter-of-factly.

Hikawa nodded slightly.

Even though it had only been three days, he could already feel Hatake Kakashi's overwhelming popularity.

Simply put, he was like Uchiha Sasuke from the original story.

Read more and watch fewer Uchiha.

Hikawa glanced over.

In the brief moment he and Shizune had been talking, Obito Uchiha had already lost—and Hatake Kakashi hadn't even made a move.

He had burned his throat using the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique and was coughing violently, looking like he might cough up a lung any second.

But he was in pain and happy at the same time, because Rin Nohara was taking care of him.

A gentle attitude always made people delusional—like thinking she liked him.

Too bad they didn't know fate's gifts already came with a price tag attached.

For the sake of his own life, Hikawa went back to studying.

He didn't want to be optimized out of existence when Obito Uchiha created a new world.

After school, he went home, ate dinner, and started training with kunai and shuriken.

The only difference from yesterday was that Yuhi Kurenai was there.

A week passed quickly.

Hikawa smoothly integrated into the class and got to know all his classmates.

Besides well-known supporting characters like Hatake Kakashi and Sarutobi Asuma, there was also one with fewer scenes: Mizuki.

In the original story, he was the Ninja Academy teacher who tempted the failing Uzumaki Naruto to steal the Sealing Scroll.

His greatest contribution was handing the protagonist a cheat item—the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Early Sunday morning.

Hikawa casually tossed a kunai, and it struck the wooden post with perfect accuracy.

Several lines of text appeared before his eyes.

He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

[E-Rank Talent Entry: Ninja Tool Throwing (Acquired).]

[Trigger Condition: Shuriken and Kunai throwing reached Beginner level.]

[Effect: Increases arm strength by 10% on top of the base; stationary targets within a hundred meters are guaranteed hits.]

[Note: Has one synthesis path. Adding the E-Rank Entry Seven Ninja Tools can synthesize into the D-Rank Entry Ninja Tool Mastery.]

Hikawa instinctively clenched his fist.

A surge of power flowed out—not much, but he had undeniably grown a little stronger.

Just at the Beginner level, it already added 10%. Once he fully mastered it, wouldn't it become a Kirin arm?

He should go play basketball—this was a solid iron elbow.

Hikawa set aside his scattered thoughts.

He looked at the new Entry panel.

[E-Rank Talent Entry: Seven Ninja Tools (Not Acquired).]

[Trigger Condition: Seven Ninja Tools reached Proficient level.]

[Current Progress: 10%.]

Also an E-Rank Entry, but the difficulty of 'Seven Ninja Tools' was far higher than 'Ninja Tool Throwing.'

Was it because it could synthesize into a D-Rank Entry, so the intensity went up?

This progress bar meant that shuriken and kunai counted, but he still needed to learn five additional types of ninja tools.

Hikawa gathered the kunai and shuriken scattered on the ground, turned around, and walked out.

He had already requested leave from Yuhi Shinko in advance, saying he needed to return to the Orphanage.

But in reality, he was going to meet with the Kumogakure spy.

Kushina Uzumaki, in the early stages of becoming a Jinchuriki, was confined within a Barrier because she couldn't control the Nine-Tails' power. This is taken from the official side-story manga "Minato's Story"—borrowed to serve this book's plot.