High-Level Gossip

In mid-October, the graduation exams for the fifth and sixth grades of the Ninja Academy arrived as scheduled.

The order of the assessments was arranged according to past performance; for instance, the first two students from Class A to be evaluated were none other than the class co-leaders, Hideaki Uchiha and Kyo Sarutobi.

As one might guess from their names, Hideaki Uchiha was, unsurprisingly, the posthumous son of Kagami Uchiha, while Kyo Sarutobi was likely the eldest son of Sarutobi Hiruzen, who remained unnamed in the original story.

"Hideaki," "Kagami," and "Shisui" together evoke the phrase "clear mirror, still water," a naming style that perfectly fits the literary flair favored by a great clan like the Uchiha.

As for "Kyo," its romanization literally translates to "today," which ties into the name of the Third Hokage's newborn son, "Asuma," as the romanization of "asuma" literally translates to "tomorrow."

However, these two young masters were even more low-key in class than Touma and Shibi.

With a friend like Kizashi Haruno by their side, it was unrealistic for Touma and Shibi to remain completely hidden, but the two young masters were different; they not only commuted to and from school alone, but the guards dispatched by their respective clans never once made an appearance.

Consequently, even Ise, their homeroom teacher who cared deeply for both Hideaki and Kyo, was unaware of their true identities.

Because the two were inseparable in both theoretical and practical scores, this graduation exam did not assign them opponents of Chunin or Genin rank; instead, they were pitted against each other to decide the victor.

Touma and Shibi had previously collected public intelligence on the pair, a tacitly accepted unwritten rule before graduation exams that the school even actively encouraged.

After all, ninjas are held to rigorous standards regarding intelligence gathering during missions.

A ninja must ensure the accuracy and exclusivity of information, as this provides significant indirect assistance for facing enemies and continuing missions in the future.

Hideaki's proficiency with the Sharingan went without saying; he awakened it at six and reached the two-tomoe stage by ten. Based on his current frequency of use, it was estimated that he would unlock the three-tomoe stage in another two or three years.

Neither within the Uchiha clan nor among the upper echelons of Konoha did anyone doubt that Kagami's son would awaken the three-tomoe.

In fact, many with a deep understanding of the Sharingan believed that Hideaki Uchiha had every chance of activating his own unique Mangekyō before reaching adulthood.

Of course, with such steady, incremental progress, Hideaki faced virtually no risk of suffering from bloodline disease, provided he encountered no major disasters.

Most bloodline diseases were simply the result of awakening an immature Kekkei Genkai too early, causing a weak constitution to fail to adapt to the special changes during awakening, thereby triggering a chain reaction of genetic collapse.

Yes, the concept of "genes" existed in the ninja world, though the name was certainly not "gene," but rather, much like in the world of One Piece, it was called the "Lineage Factor."

Currently, the only nation in the entire ninja world with deep and extensive research into "Lineage Factors" was the Land of Fire. The capital even had professional institutions for testing "Lineage Factors," and most of the relevant technology was secretly supported by Orochimaru.

Orochimaru hadn't told Touma this; rather, Touma had accidentally discovered a manuscript of a textbook on Lineage Factors in a laboratory beneath Orochimaru's home. The author listed was "Kazuki Fujimoto," which was simply an alias for Orochimaru.

According to Touma's rough understanding, the name "Kazuki Fujimoto" had appeared six years ago, right when Orochimaru had just graduated from the academy.

His initial theoretical model wasn't pulled from thin air, either; it was inspired by scrolls left behind by the Kusanagi clan. Roughly three hundred years ago, the Kusanagi clan had experimented with bloodline fusion, which was the very origin of the "Chimera Technique" that would later fall into the hands of Hiruko.

However, Orochimaru wasn't interested in such ancient techniques and had no intention of practicing them; he was merely trying to dismantle the theoretical composition of the techniques to extract their essence and develop his own unique arts.

Returning to Hideaki Uchiha, Touma found it hard to believe that an Uchiha genius of his caliber would remain obscure in the later Shippuden era. This could only mean one thing: Hideaki Uchiha had been targeted and eliminated by other great nations before he could achieve any proud, record-breaking feats.

His current opponent, Kyo Sarutobi, had inherited his father's talent for Fire and Earth Release, and he utilized the combination of the two with great proficiency.

From Touma's perspective, in terms of pure combat power, both were no less than average Chunin, and if they encountered an elemental advantage, they could even perform at the level of a Special Jonin.

On one side was genjutsu paired with the Second Hokage's signature Water Release, and on the other was taijutsu paired with the Third Hokage's signature Fire Release. For a time, the two fought to a standstill, allowing the lower-grade students watching from the sidelines to witness the peak combat power of their upperclassmen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, watching from the sidelines, showed no obvious emotion, but his four companions who appeared alongside him—Danzō Shimura, Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, and Torifu Akimichi—suddenly became fired up, cheering themselves hoarse for the two children.

To Touma's surprise, Hideaki's supporters were actually Danzō Shimura and Homura Mitokado, the very people who were the most vocal advocates for suppressing the Uchiha within the village.

Seeing Touma's puzzled expression, Shishin Aburame, Shibi's father who was sitting with them, explained the reason.

It turned out that among the Second Hokage's six personal guards, Kagami Uchiha, Danzō Shimura, and Homura Mitokado were one team, while the other consisted of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Koharu Utatane, and Torifu Akimichi.

The leaders responsible for temporary decision-making for the two groups were none other than Danzō Shimura and Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The reason Kagami Uchiha, who possessed greater strength and a better grasp of the big picture, did not become the leader was partly due to his own initiative out of camaraderie, and partly because he feared the Uchiha clan elders would use the opportunity to meddle in the affairs of the Hokage's office. To minimize trouble, Kagami Uchiha chose not to step forward.

Furthermore, after the First Great Ninja War, Kagami Uchiha's injuries deteriorated rapidly until they were beyond medical help. Most of those injuries had been sustained while shielding his teammates.

Therefore, Danzō Shimura's feelings for Kagami Uchiha were incredibly deep. In the first few years of the Third Hokage's administration, there were even rumors in the village that Danzō Shimura was infatuated with Kagami Uchiha, which was why he had long refused to accept any marriage matches introduced by his clan.

This rumor spread so widely that even some writers living in the capital used it as a foundation to expand into several bestselling romance novels.

The most famous of these was titled Sea of Hidden Mirrors. It not only sold millions of copies in the Land of Fire but also accumulated nearly ten million in sales after being introduced to other countries.

Touma had seen this book in Jiraiya's possession. Every time Jiraiya read it, his face would turn bright red, and he would subsequently look at Orochimaru with a strange expression. Because of that look, Jiraiya had been beaten up by Orochimaru more than once!

Of course, one certainly couldn't find this book in Konoha now. Even if Sarutobi Hiruzen enjoyed seeing Danzō made a fool of, he couldn't allow such baseless rumors to continue to escalate, so the book had been listed as a banned item in the village years ago.

Upon hearing this story, Touma couldn't resist wanting to peek at the truth of the book. After all, no matter the world, there was never a shortage of fujoshi and fudanshi, and being able to eat real-life gossip while indulging in such content completely struck a chord with Touma's soul of intrigue.

He had a premonition that once he finished reading Sea of Hidden Mirrors, he would surely find the secret weapon to defeat Danzō!