He Dreamed!

A motorcade slowly rolled out through the gates of the Capital of the Land of Fire.

The carriage was at the rear, with dozens of armed warriors riding ahead to guard it. They were all fully equipped with weapons and armor, their eyes sharp as they stood alert for any danger that might arise.

Ye Ning followed silently behind the carriage, privately at a loss for words.

He had originally planned to wait until his cheap old man sent someone to notify the Third Hokage, then head to Konoha alone. Who could have guessed that his cheap old man had taken leave of his senses and insisted on going with him?

Going together was one thing, but he had to make a grand spectacle of it, bringing a full fifty samurai along as guards.

That was after Ye Ning had talked him down. Otherwise, there might have been even more.

But...

The quality of these fifty samurai was truly hard to describe.

They would be hard-pressed to fulfill their duty as guards even against samurai from the Land of Iron, never mind against shinobi.

The Daimyo of the Land of Fire had guards this useless, yet held the lifeline of the shinobi villages in his hands. Ye Ning didn't know whether to call the whole thing ridiculous or bizarre.

"My lord~ Have some of my wine too~"

"That's right~ You can't play favorites, my lord~"

"I'll drink all of it! Hahahaha, don't rush..."

"..."

Hearing the flirtatious voices coming from inside the carriage, Ye Ning's mouth twitched twice.

His cheap old man really knew how to enjoy himself at every moment...

Being a Daimyo was great...

Ahem...

Realizing his thoughts had wandered, Ye Ning shook his head and forced himself to stop imagining the debauchery inside the carriage. He focused on thinking things through.

Even he couldn't pin down exactly how strong he was at the moment.

It was said that the former abbot of the Fire Temple had once been a well-known figure. At the very least, Ye Ning should be able to fight him to a draw... That had to put him at the level of an elite jōnin, right?

Probably... right?

Ye Ning felt uncertain.

Judging by how the original story defined jōnin, wasn't he currently at the Special Jōnin level?

Although he had spent two and a half years learning every ninjutsu in the Fire Temple, the techniques a small temple could possess were severely limited. At the very least, his grasp of genjutsu was still nonexistent.

Sigh... Hopefully, he could make up for that shortcoming in Konoha.

Ye Ning stopped dwelling on these trivial matters and turned his thoughts to the chakra within him.

His chakra affinities weren't bad. He had Fire, Wind, and Lightning. Compared to an all-affinity prodigy like Kakashi, he was certainly lacking, but compared to an ordinary shinobi, he was already doing quite well.

What was more, the chakra in his body could combine to form a new Kekkei Genkai.

That was right.

During his two and a half years at the Fire Temple, he had successfully combined the chakra in his body to form a new Kekkei Genkai.

He had his cheat to thank for it.

His cheat wasn't like the simple, overpowered system found in other transmigration novels. Instead, it let him combine chakra—or, more precisely, it helped him combine the chakra within his body more effectively.

That was how he had managed to create different Kekkei Genkai in just two short years.

However, if he wanted to combine the Fire, Lightning, and Wind chakra nature transformations to create a Kekkei Tōta that surpassed even Kekkei Genkai, like Dust Release, he would need to make many more attempts.

"Sarutobi, you called the two of us here in such a hurry. Is something the matter?"

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu arrived at the Third Hokage's office one after the other, both looking hurried.

Utatane Koharu looked especially grave, with a hint of alarm in her voice as she asked,

"You called us here in such a rush. Has the war started again?"

The Third Hokage silently shook his head and drew hard on his pipe. Thin wisps of smoke curled upward as he said in a low voice,

"Let's wait for Danzo."

Another ten minutes passed before Danzo finally arrived at a leisurely pace.

He hadn't yet been injured in the shinobi war, so his body was still intact. Naturally, he wasn't leaning on the cane he would later carry everywhere, and his forehead wasn't wrapped in thick bandages either. Even so, he still looked gloomy.

"Sarutobi, what did you call us here for?"

Only after his old friend arrived did the Third Hokage set down his pipe and pass the letter in his hand around for the three of them to read.

The letter wasn't long, and the three of them finished it quickly. Danzo had the strongest reaction.

"He wants to read the Scroll of Seals? He can dream on!"

Danzo didn't bother to hide his anger. His face darkened completely, and he showed the Daimyo of the Land of Fire no respect at all. "He's just an ordinary person, yet he dares make such an outrageous demand. And he claims it's to fulfill his son's wish? Hmph!"

Unlike Danzo, Utatane Koharu was concerned about something else. "The Scroll of Seals should be a closely guarded secret in Konoha. How did the Daimyo learn about it? Could there be someone in the village..."

Before she could finish, the Third Hokage raised a hand. "The Daimyo is related to the Senju Clan by marriage, so it's no surprise that he knows the Scroll of Seals exists. What we need to consider now is how to deal with this matter. That's why I called you here to discuss it."

"Sarutobi, you're not actually thinking of agreeing to this, are you?" Danzo asked in disbelief.

If Ye Ning had been there, he might have remarked that Danzo's expressions were surprisingly varied without a Sharingan grafted into him and his forehead wrapped in bandages. Later on, he would only keep a straight face, showing any emotion only in front of the Third Hokage.

"There's no way we can agree to this! The Daimyo has no right to interfere in Konoha's affairs! He has no business asking to borrow the Scroll of Seals!"

Faced with Danzo's rigid stance, it was clear the Third Hokage was thinking about more than that. "The Daimyo gave us strong support in the war that just ended. Without all that money, we could never have brought the war to a close. A flat refusal would probably offend him."

"Hmph! So what are you suggesting? That we lend him the Scroll of Seals? What kind of Daimyo is he? If you ask me..."

Before he could finish, the Third Hokage slammed his hand on the desk. "Enough, Danzo!"

If he didn't stop Danzo, who knew what disrespectful things he might say?

Even though this was a private discussion among their own people, there were still things better left unsaid.

Danzo froze, swallowing the words caught in his throat. He didn't say anything more, only folded his arms and snorted.

"If you ask me, we can't outright refuse and offend the Daimyo, but we can't just lend him the Scroll of Seals either..." Utatane Koharu thought for a moment. "Why don't we reply this way?"

"If the Daimyo's son truly has the talent to become a shinobi, then we can lend him the Scroll of Seals. How does that sound?"

The Third Hokage and Mitokado Homura exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.

Even Danzo, who had been furious just moments earlier, nodded with a cold laugh. "What talent to become a shinobi could an ordinary person's son possibly have?"