Damn, You Really Are a Genius!

The violent Lightning Release Chakra quickly swept across the entire Training Ground. A gale spread in every direction, even affecting several Anbu who had secretly followed the Third Hokage through the woods. They had no choice but to jump down from the trees and use the trunks for cover against the sudden gale.

"What's going on? Has Lord Hokage come under attack?" one ninja wearing a fox mask asked in a low voice.

"No, Lord Hokage is unharmed. This was caused by Uzumaki Kuming performing a technique. It was an accident!" said the Anbu beside him, who wore a Death God mask. Behind his mask was a pair of pale eyes.

"Is that so? Keep watching. I'll go guard the other area. This commotion must have drawn plenty of people over to investigate."

The Anbu in the fox mask spoke, then immediately vanished, leaving the other Anbu to keep watch alone.

After a long while, the chakra storm covering the entire Training Ground gradually subsided. Hiruzen Sarutobi hurried to the spot where Kuming had just been and waited anxiously for the smoke to clear. This was Kuming's first day training under him. If something went wrong on the very first day, he would have no way to explain it to Uzumaki Mito.

Fortunately, once the smoke cleared, Hiruzen Sarutobi spotted Kuming's red hair first. His sharp eyes caught Lightning Release Chakra winding around it.

"Kuming, are you all right?" As Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke, Kushina and Minato arrived with the others. Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, Kushina showed no sign of worry.

This sort of thing had happened many times before when Kuming trained at the dojo. Each time, he damaged some of the dojo's facilities, while Kuming himself—the culprit—was completely unharmed.

The smoke cleared completely, revealing Uzumaki Kuming. Chakra coiled around his whole body, and his red hair fluttered in the wind.

"I'm fine." Kuming heard Hiruzen Sarutobi's question and shook his head slightly. As soon as he finished speaking, the chakra surrounding him began to fade.

"I never expected you to be so impulsive. When practicing such a complicated ninjutsu, you have to work through it in stages."

"First, you practice the hand seals. Only after that do you practice using the technique by infusing it with chakra. If you make a mistake while guiding the chakra through the hand seals, the consequences could be unpredictable."

"Kuming, do you understand what you did wrong?"

Seeing that Kuming was unharmed, Hiruzen Sarutobi breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then began to lecture him. The way Kuming learned ninjutsu reminded him of the time he had taught Jiraiya the Summoning Technique. Jiraiya hadn't even waited for him to finish explaining the technique before rushing off to perform it on his own. Fortunately, he had summoned something from Mount Myoboku. Otherwise, that kid might have been done for.

Now Kuming was acting exactly like Jiraiya had back then, and it was starting to give the Third Hokage a headache.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Sarutobi."

"I haven't learned many ninjutsu before, and I've never tried a technique with this many hand seals."

A hint of apology appeared on Kuming's face, but inwardly he was focused on the Lightning Release Ninjutsu he had just performed by accident. An indiscriminate, large-scale attack centered on himself would actually be very useful. Just releasing his chakra in a burst couldn't produce this sort of effect.

The technique looked a little like the Blind Monk's Sonic Wave from Dungeon Fighter Online, but its power and range were in a league of their own.

"As long as you understand what you did wrong. Now let's follow the steps and complete the technique one stage at a time." Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Kuming very differently now. Mito had already told him that the boy was a ninjutsu prodigy, and Kuming had demonstrated his talent by instantly learning the C-rank Lightning Pillar.

But what Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't expected was that Kuming could reproduce the hand seals for the B-rank Thunder Dragon after watching him perform it just twice, even though he had originally chosen it to give Kuming a hard time. The technique had apparently failed in the end because of some mistake, but Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen clearly that Kuming's hand seals were both fast and precise.

Once he became familiar with the seals, learning the technique would only be a matter of time. And that was without Hiruzen teaching him how to guide his chakra—Kuming had managed to guide it through the hand seals on his own and still gotten this far.

For the rest of the afternoon, Uzumaki Kuming's training finally returned to normal. He began asking questions about the difficulties he had encountered while learning the Thunder Dragon, as well as how to guide his chakra. Hiruzen Sarutobi, a professor of ninjutsu with a vast store of knowledge, had no intention of holding anything back from Kuming.

No matter what problem Kuming ran into while performing the technique, Hiruzen could explain it and demonstrate how to fix it. As a teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi was beyond reproach, and Kuming's training progressed quickly.

Kushina, Minato, and Sarutobi Kotaro left partway through Kuming's training to take care of other matters. The vast Training Ground echoed with the Third Hokage's instruction and the occasional explosions caused by Kuming's techniques.

Rolling crimson clouds spread across the horizon. Before they knew it, the sun was close to the horizon. A veil of darkness had already covered the sky above Kuming's Training Ground, dotted with faint, twinkling stars.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon!"

At Uzumaki Kuming's low shout, a purple lightning dragon burst into existence. It twisted through the air, then plunged toward an empty patch of ground. The next moment, sand and rocks flew as a violent gale engulfed Kuming and the Third Hokage.

"I did it!" The Third Hokage had shielded Kuming with his own body, protecting him from the flying stones. Standing behind him, Uzumaki Kuming was excitedly poking his head out to look at the heart of the storm.

When the smoke cleared, the already-scarred ground was covered with fresh marks. Steam rose from the earth, and purple lightning flickered between the cracks.

"He actually... succeeded!" Hiruzen Sarutobi stared blankly at the scene before him. Everything he saw proved that Kuming had successfully performed the Thunder Dragon.

It had taken less than four hours from the moment he began teaching Kuming the technique to the moment Kuming successfully performed it. That included the time Kuming had spent resting to replenish his chakra and the time Hiruzen had spent explaining. Uzumaki Kuming had probably learned the technique in less than three hours.

Even the Third Hokage, a man who had seen plenty in his time, couldn't help feeling astonished by such a talent for ninjutsu.

"Awesome! I finally have a decent ninjutsu!" Kuming's little face was already lit up with excitement. After seeing the technique in action, he finally let out a delighted shout.

Ever since he had crossed over, he had dreamed of learning a few ninjutsu that were both powerful and cool. The Thunder Dragon was in a class of its own when it came to looks, quite unlike any of the techniques Kuming had learned before.

Although Kuming was a pragmatist, learning a few flashy ninjutsu had always been one of his dreams. He had been learning Fuinjutsu, which was practical and powerful, but also plain and unremarkable. Even the Yin Seal, while powerful and difficult enough to learn, wasn't cool!

It was only now that Kuming truly showed a bit of childishness.

Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly came back to himself and turned to look at Kuming. Seeing how overjoyed he was, the Third Hokage smiled fondly. At that moment, he felt as if he were back to teaching Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. The excitement on the child's face reminded the Third Hokage once again of the joy of being a teacher.

Back then, he had truly been happy. Under the Second Hokage's protection, he had enjoyed peaceful days in Konoha Village, and his most important task was teaching three exceptionally gifted children. Now, he had to worry about the war on the front lines and maintain the balance between the village's various clans and factions.

Thinking of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi gently rubbed his cheek. He walked over to Kuming, crouched down, and drew him into a gentle hug. "Kuming, you really are a genius."

"I'll teach you everything I know. I'll make sure you grow into an outstanding ninja."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's gesture took Kuming by surprise. Feeling the warmth of his embrace, Kuming could sense the sincerity in his words. The warmth of Hiruzen Sarutobi's chakra gave Kuming a comfort he couldn't describe. He had only felt chakra like this from Mito, Kushina, and Tsunade before.

"Thank you, Teacher Sarutobi. I'll do my best to learn."

Night fell. After a full day of training, Kuming dragged his exhausted body home. He hurriedly ate dinner, said goodnight to Mito and Kushina, then took a bath and went to bed.

The moon rose into the night sky, and its light slipped through the gap in Kuming's door, falling on the head of his bed. Kuming had already fallen fast asleep, and his room echoed faintly with his murmurs: "Thunder Dragon, Thunder Dragon."

As the night wore on, the Hokage Building remained brightly lit.

The communications room on the first floor was bustling with people. Even in the middle of the night, plenty of ninja were returning to the village and handing in the latest intelligence.

On the second floor, in the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi had just finished dealing with the paperwork that had piled up during the afternoon. He stretched, got to his feet, and walked to the window. Looking out at Konoha in the darkness, his thoughts drifted.

"Whoosh!" Without the office door opening, a figure suddenly appeared inside and knelt on one knee to report:

"Lord Hokage, the fighting in the Land of Rain is growing fierce. Commander Mitokado Homura requests reinforcements."

Listening to the Anbu's report behind him, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep puff from his pipe and furrowed his brows. "Didn't we already send the reserve Genin to the Land of Rain? How can things still be so bad?"

"What kind of commander is Mitokado Homura? There's no more strength left in the village to send to the front!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice turned cold, and he made no effort to hide the blame in his tone.

"Sir, for reasons unknown, Hanzo, the leader of the Land of Rain, suddenly sided with the Land of Earth. The Rain Ninja abruptly turned against Konoha."

"Before, the Land of Rain's Genin were helping us transport supplies on the battlefield and taking part in a few small-scale engagements."

"But now that the Land of Rain has defected, our supply lines on the front have run into trouble. We've lost several key battles, and large numbers of Rain Ninja have been found sabotaging the areas occupied by Konoha."

"By the time I left, Lord Mitokado Homura had already ordered a purge of our occupied territory, sending forces to kill every Rain Ninja there."

"Right now, the Land of Rain front is completely short of personnel."

The reporting Anbu quickly relayed everything he knew. After hearing the report, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face grew dark.

"Let me think about it. You can leave for now." Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at his subordinate and then waved him away.

After the Anbu left, Sarutobi sank into his chair as though all his strength had left him.

"Has it really come to this? Teacher, what should I do?" The Third Hokage looked up at the portrait of the previous Hokage hanging in his office, his expression full of conflict.

The only way to keep the Land of Rain front stable was to send the last of Konoha's reserve ninja to the battlefield. But the remaining reserve ninja in Konoha were all children. That was what troubled Hiruzen Sarutobi.

But if the front in the Land of Rain collapsed completely and the fighting reached the Land of Fire, even more innocent civilians would be caught up in the war and die. Should he send the young ninja into battle, or let the fighting on the front spiral out of control? The Third Hokage soon made his decision.

"Send word: starting tomorrow, all children in the Ninja Academy's third year and above will be assessed."

"Send all the assessment results to me. Notify Mitokado Homura on the front lines that he must hold the Land of Rain front until reinforcements arrive. Have him pull back to a smaller territory and go on the defensive. He is not to launch any more offensives before the reinforcements arrive."

"Also, call in the Genin and Chunin currently off duty in the village. I have something important to announce."

"Finally, notify all retired ninja who are still physically fit. Ask them if they're willing to serve Konoha again. If they are, have them report here too."

A ninja had appeared before him as soon as the Third Hokage began giving orders. When Hiruzen Sarutobi finished, the Anbu ninja silently withdrew.

After speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in his chair. A trace of reluctance remained on his face, but his expression was resolute. Once he had issued the orders, all traces of sleepiness vanished. He had the communications room send up more files. At that moment, it seemed that only working himself to the bone could ease even a little of the guilt in his heart.

The morning sun shone brightly. Kuming got up early and was exercising in the yard. He had gone to bed early the night before, so he had woken up early too. He noticed that Kushina wasn't home, but didn't think much of it. After a little exercise, he planned to eat breakfast and head to school.

But he had only just finished exercising and was about to eat when Kushina opened the front door, dragging her exhausted body inside.

"Huh? Sis, where did you go so early?"

Seeing the dark circles under Kushina's eyes, Kuming couldn't help asking.

"Early? Lord Hokage called me in urgently last night. It wasn't just me; nearly all of Konoha's Genin and Chunin were called in too."

Kushina's words left Kuming baffled. He had no idea why the Genin and Chunin had been summoned in the middle of the night, so he asked curiously:

"Called in urgently? What for?" Seeing how curious Kuming was, Kushina didn't keep it from him. After all, she didn't have to worry about confidentiality rules when it came to Kuming.

"We're going to war. Last night, all the Genin and Chunin were assigned to the battlefield. They're probably getting ready now, waiting for Lord Hokage's final call to depart."

Kushina's answer made Kuming's pupils contract sharply. He hurriedly asked, "Going to war? What about you, Sis?"

"Me? A few other girls my age and I were assigned to Konoha Hospital."

"I was busy all night. I've only just come back to rest."

"I can't talk to you now. I need to get some sleep. I have to report to the hospital this afternoon."

Kushina's eyes could barely stay open, as if even her eyelids were too heavy for her. When she saw that Kuming still seemed to have questions, she quickly waved and went back to her room.

Watching Kushina leave, Kuming's eyelid twitched. A foreboding feeling rose in his heart.

"So the war has already gotten this bad."

With that unease weighing on him, Kuming hurriedly finished breakfast and left the house, heading for school.

Along the way, he could sense the tension in the air. Word of the Third Hokage's mobilization the night before seemed to have spread. Some civilians with children serving as Genin appeared agitated.

On the way, Kuming passed the barbecue restaurant he usually went by. A woman's shout came from inside:

"You bastard! You're sending a thirteen-year-old child to war? What is the Third Hokage thinking?"

"You've only just become a Genin! You've barely gone on any missions. What use will you be out there?"

"No! I have to talk to Lord Hokage and make him take back the order."

The next moment, a child's pleading voice came from inside. "Mom, please don't make trouble. Lord Hokage didn't order just me to go. All my classmates are going too."

"And my teacher will be there. With him around, we won't be in any danger."

"If you go make a scene, how am I supposed to hold my head up in front of my classmates?"

The boy's words seemed to convince his mother, but the next moment, Kuming saw a tearful woman rush out of the barbecue restaurant and sprint toward the Hokage Building.

"Mom! Mom!" After the woman ran out of the barbecue restaurant, a boy wearing a Forehead Protector chased after her. No matter how many times he called, he couldn't stop her. The boy was young, around eleven or twelve, and not even 1.55 meters tall. He looked like a little kid.

The argument at the barbecue restaurant seemed to draw the neighbors' attention. Quite a few people gathered outside, pointing and whispering:

"Poor kid. He's so young and already has to go to war. But what a brave boy! No wonder he's a ninja of our Konoha Village!"

"The boy's sensible. It's his mother who isn't. If everyone acted like her, how could Lord Hokage manage the village?"

"You've got a point, brother. How many people in your family are going to the front?"

"My family? We don't have any ninja. Why would we be going to war?"

"..."

Uzumaki Kuming had only watched from a distance and listened to a few of the neighbors' comments before sighing and walking away. Compared to when he had first left home, his mood was even heavier.

He had come from a time of peace and was no warmonger. Uzumaki Kuming had also experienced life and death, so he knew how terrifying war could be. Anyone who understood how terrifying it was wouldn't yearn for the battlefield. But there were still some things Kuming could understand: in times like these, a country needed people willing to step forward.

It was only today that he realized Konoha had become like Armenia in his previous life. It had reached the point where it had to send children to the battlefield.

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