Power Beyond Kage Level

After helping Sasuke steady himself, Sakura had no idea what Yeyu had done to him.

Yeyu had directed the pressure only at Sasuke.

Sakura hadn't noticed a thing.

"Yeyu, what did you do to Sasuke?"

Leaning back in his chair with his arms folded, Yeyu said calmly, "Nothing. I just let him experience what real power feels like."

Sasuke's usually cold expression had twisted into one of sheer terror.

He could barely keep his eyes open.

He'd felt like he had died several times just now.

He'd endured brutal punishments in hell.

It had been worse than death.

One of Sasuke's hands gripped Sakura's arm while the other braced against the desk. Cold sweat covered his forehead.

His eyes were fixed on Yeyu. "What was that power just now?"

"Is that what you're relying on to become a Chunin?"

"Since when are Chunin so powerful?"

Sasuke wasn't ignorant. There had been plenty of Chunin in his clan when he was a child.

But not one of them had ever made him feel so terrified.

What exactly was this power of Yeyu's?

Looking at Sasuke, Yeyu remained completely calm, showing no hint of threat. "I only released a tiny bit of my presence."

"If you found it terrifying, that just means you still have a long way to go."

"I think the person you've always cared about isn't someone you can defeat as you are now."

"You can't even touch the version of him from back then."

Images of Itachi Uchiha slaughtering the entire clan and replaying the scene for him rose in Sasuke's mind.

He clenched his teeth in hatred and balled his hands into fists.

Sweat poured down his forehead.

Yeyu's words shattered the cold facade Sasuke had maintained for so many years.

He had made little progress over all that time. Before Itachi Uchiha, he was just as helpless as he'd been back then.

A weakling Itachi Uchiha hadn't even bothered to kill.

That was the wound Sasuke had refused to uncover for all these years.

But today, Yeyu had ripped it wide open.

Sasuke gave a bitter smile. "So all these years, I've been standing still. I haven't made any progress at all."

His fists clenched as pain filled his face.

He had worked hard. Whenever he had time, he went to the Uchiha Clan's grounds to study the ninjutsu on the Stone Tablet.

He had awakened the One-Tomoe Sharingan. His visual prowess wasn't strong enough yet, but he could already see quite a bit of what was written on the tablet.

The Uchiha Clan Tablet was inscribed with many clan techniques. As the Sharingan grew stronger, it revealed more and more of them.

Sasuke lowered his head and gritted his teeth. "I can't even defeat you. What have I been doing all these years? I've accomplished nothing."

Looking at Sasuke, Yeyu said dryly, "Saying you can't even defeat me is a bit arrogant."

That didn't sit right with Yeyu.

Did Sasuke think he was someone anyone could just beat?

Sasuke wiped away his tears and raised his head, looking at Yeyu earnestly. "Yeyu, how did you get so strong?"

"Can you tell me?"

Standing beside Sasuke, Sakura felt sorry for him.

She had never seen the usually cold Sasuke show such vulnerability.

Who is that man? Who does Sasuke want to defeat?

Yeyu made Sasuke like this. He must be really powerful, right? Sakura thought.

Sasuke looked at Yeyu earnestly, waiting expectantly.

He hoped Yeyu would tell him.

But Yeyu replied calmly, "I was born this way. You can't learn it."

Sasuke frowned at once. "You don't want to tell me?"

It wasn't that Yeyu didn't want to tell him. He didn't even know where his own power had come from.

After a dream, he had somehow inherited Akainu's power.

Was he supposed to tell Sasuke that he'd gotten it from a dream?

Yeyu said indifferently, "Think whatever you want."

Sasuke gave a cold snort and turned away, his expression haughty. "Fine. If you don't want to tell me, then don't. I'll get stronger, and I'll defeat you—and that man."

Yeyu only smiled, taking no offense.

Just then, the classroom door opened.

A ninja with silver-white hair walked in.

It was Kakashi Hatake, Team 7's instructor.

Kakashi walked up to the podium and looked in Yeyu's direction.

It was the first time the two of them had met.

But Kakashi wasn't Yeyu's instructor.

"Team 7, come with me. Meet me on the school rooftop."

After speaking, Kakashi glanced at Yeyu and disappeared from the classroom.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto froze for a moment.

Yeyu reminded them, "Why are you still here? Your instructor's arrived."

Sasuke frowned.

Why did this instructor seem so unreliable?

Still, he had to hurry to the meeting.

As he left, he looked at Yeyu and said solemnly, "Yeyu, I'll surpass you soon. You'll be the first opponent I defeat."

Before leaving, Sasuke threw Yeyu a threat.

Yeyu ignored him and went back to sleeping with his head on the desk.

Naruto, who was supposed to be the protagonist, had barely said a word through the whole thing.

He'd been hiding to the side, trembling in fear.

Especially after seeing that Yeyu had apparently done nothing and still nearly made Sasuke pass out, drenched in cold sweat. It only made Naruto more terrified.

With Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all gone, Yeyu was the only one left in the classroom.

The empty classroom was silent, and Yeyu really did fall asleep.

Not long afterward, Hiruzen appeared in the classroom.

He walked over to Yeyu.

"Come on. I'll take you to the Hokage Office and show you around."

Hiruzen knew Yeyu must have noticed him.

Sure enough, Yeyu stood up and stretched.

"Lord Hokage, what you did just now was a bit too showy. You've caused me a lot of trouble."

Hiruzen smiled, completely unconcerned. "I thought you wouldn't mind. I originally planned to promote you straight to Jonin, but then I realized that would be too outrageous. Chunin will do."

Yeyu was a little speechless. "Chunin is outrageous too."

He'd graduated from the Ninja Academy without even starting work as a ninja, yet he'd been promoted straight to Chunin, skipping the Genin stage entirely.

It was unprecedented in Konoha's history.

A truly exceptional case.

Of course, it would also stir up plenty of controversy.

But neither Yeyu nor Hiruzen would care about that.

Yeyu was strong enough.

Hiruzen had ample justification, and Yeyu had enough power to ignore any doubts.

Hiruzen smiled. "Ha ha ha. Would you rather start out as a Genin?"

Yeyu shook his head. "Skipping Genin and avoiding all those boring missions sounds great."

"But I don't have any experience as your assistant."

"You can learn as you go by staying with me."

"And you won't have to go out on missions. You can study some ninjutsu instead."

"Your Taijutsu is strong enough, but you're a ninja, so you should learn some ninjutsu too. You can take any of the ninjutsu records in the Hokage Office to study."

Yeyu had inherited Akainu's power, and his greatest strength lay in combining Haki with the abilities of the Magma-Magma Fruit.

But he wouldn't use them unless absolutely necessary.

If he unleashed his full power, combining this world's chakra with Akainu's abilities...

Yeyu estimated that he could reach a level of power beyond Kage Level.