White Fang's Guidance

"Yeah, Danzo meant well, too. Let's hope we don't end up raising another Uchiha Madara."

The ones speaking were Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura. Naturally, they were pleading Danzo's case. After pondering for a moment, the Third Hokage said, "Danzo, go back. I don't think Qingyun will hold this against you."

"Sarutobi! You'd better watch yourself. And you, brat—remember this." Danzo sneered and glared at Qingyun before turning to leave.

"That's just how he is. Don't hold it against him," Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu said before leaving at once.

Qingyun looked at the Third Hokage, puzzled. The Third Hokage said, "Qingyun, I believe in you. Danzo wants to kill you simply because he wants one less rival. You're too talented, so he wants to eliminate you before you have a chance to fully mature."

"You and Minato are the best candidates to become Hokage. I hope you'll keep that in mind."

"After the Shinobi World War, Orochimaru guarded the front lines almost every day, protecting Konoha. But he's cold and secretive, and it's hard to tell what he's really thinking."

"So you and Minato are likely to compete for the position of Hokage. If something happened to both of you, Orochimaru and Danzo would be the most likely candidates."

"Danzo is a hardliner who advocates attacking other villages. But what Konoha needs more is stable development. As for Orochimaru, he isn't particularly suited to running the village either."

"So you and Minato are the best choices for Fourth Hokage, and I'm more inclined to favor you. You're young, but you're composed and experienced, with remarkable strength and potential. I hope you'll spend a few years building yourself up. Do you understand what I mean?"

The Third Hokage looked at Qingyun very seriously, and Qingyun immediately understood.

The Third Hokage didn't want him to pursue Danzo's wrongdoing. If he kept holding a grudge against Danzo, he'd seem petty. After all, he was a candidate to become the next Hokage! He needed to show that kind of magnanimity.

"Understood, Teacher Sarutobi." Qingyun smiled. He didn't take offense.

If he really became Hokage, getting rid of Danzo would be easy. For now, Qingyun needed to focus on improving his strength and building up his own influence. Root was an organization, after all. Getting rid of Danzo would be simple; taking Root down would be much harder.

This time, the Third Hokage directly ranked the mission as an A-Rank Mission, so Qingyun had completed an A-Rank Mission.

These days, Qingyun had been fighting Sarutobi to improve his strength, while the C-Rank and D-Rank missions assigned by the system remained unfinished. The Third Hokage had told him to take time to build himself up, so Qingyun did just that.

Aside from his daily training, Qingyun resumed taking C-Rank and D-Rank missions.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

A figure raced through the forest.

"Fall!" a voice rang out, and the enormous wild boar in front of him collapsed to the ground.

Qingyun quickly completed the mission and finally received confirmation that it was done!

Qingyun was about to go crazy. Lately, he'd made missions a daily necessity, without taking a single day off. He had to complete at least two a day, and he was snapping up so many that the other Genin were starting to complain.

"I finally did it! Five hundred D-Rank missions and a hundred C-Rank missions in one year!" Qingyun was so excited he nearly leaped into the air.

The system announced, "Congratulations, host, on completing the mission! You've received one chakra refinement. Would you like to begin now?"

Qingyun immediately asked, "How long will it take?"

"An afternoon," the system replied.

Qingyun went home and immediately began refining his chakra. Before long, he realized his entire body had undergone an unprecedented change.

After completing the tree-climbing mission, Qingyun had absorbed the chakra of an elite jōnin. But his body's limitations had prevented him from absorbing all of it.

He had no choice but to refine his chakra directly. Although he hadn't absorbed an elite jōnin's chakra outright, the refinement had significantly improved its quality.

Now that he'd completed another mission, he began refining his chakra again at once.

The refinement went very smoothly. His Kage Level chakra became much higher in quality.

Before, Qingyun had needed two units of chakra to perform a technique. Now, he needed only one. Although the amount of chakra he had hadn't changed, its quality had nearly doubled.

"Now, every ninjutsu feels much smoother to use." Qingyun could perform his techniques with ease.

Once Qingyun had fully adjusted to his chakra, the system issued another mission.

"Congratulations, host! You've triggered another mission! This time, you must complete ten B-Rank Missions. Your reward will be a ten-pull surprise draw."

When Qingyun saw that the system had issued a mission, he immediately went to find his team and enthusiastically joined them on their assignments.

Qingyun had completed a B-Rank Mission before, so the Hokage made an exception and allowed him to take on missions of that level.

However, there weren't many B-Rank Missions in all of Konoha, and they were always given to jōnin first. Three months passed before Qingyun had completed just one B-Rank Mission.

Qingyun didn't complain. The mission had no time limit, so he could use his free time to learn from the Third Hokage.

That day, the Third Hokage sent Qingyun to learn from White Fang. Qingyun made his way to the Hatake Clan residence and found the house where White Fang lived.

"Qingyun? Did you come to see me because you want to take on a mission?" White Fang asked.

"No, Teacher White Fang. I came to learn from you," Qingyun answered honestly.

"Learn from me?" White Fang smiled.

"Yes. You only explained half of your chakra theory last time. My chakra natures are Wind, Fire, and Lightning, and I'd like to learn how to incorporate them into battle the way you do." Qingyun explained why he had come.

Changes in chakra form and nature were the most important steps in making a ninja stronger. Even Naruto had trained extremely hard to master the Rasenshuriken.

White Fang said, "Before that, I'd like to analyze your fighting style."

"At medium range, you attack your opponents with ninjutsu. At close range, you can also make use of your Chakra Enhanced Strength. That makes you a close-to-medium-range fighter."

"You don't currently use any chakra nature in your close combat, so the most important thing for you now is to learn a powerful technique infused with a chakra nature."

"Only after mastering an attack infused with a chakra nature will you be able to use ninjutsu involving changes in chakra nature and form," White Fang explained.