Late at night, in the Hokage Office.
An Anbu Ninja appeared in the Hokage Office.
"Lord Hokage, a Root Ninja just went to see Yeyu."
Hiruzen furrowed his brow slightly. "That guy moved way too fast."
"What did Yeyu do?"
Although Root was part of the Anbu, Hiruzen couldn't give Root orders.
Root only took orders from Danzo.
Kakashi also looked at the Anbu Ninja.
"Yeyu didn't make a move, but it seemed like he did."
Hiruzen and Kakashi's expressions turned serious. "What do you mean?"
The Anbu Ninja thought back to what he had just witnessed, weighed his words, and said, "Yeyu seems to have used a mental jutsu—or released killing intent."
"The other man suddenly passed out."
Hiruzen looked at Kakashi, who nodded. "It was probably killing intent."
"When Orochimaru defected, he once released that kind of killing intent toward me."
"Even now, I still remember how it felt."
Back when Orochimaru defected, he had been injured. He had only released his killing intent at Kakashi, yet Kakashi hadn't even had the courage to attack him.
He hadn't even been able to move.
"But Yeyu is only twelve. How could he have such intense killing intent?"
Kakashi couldn't understand it. Yeyu was certainly powerful, but he was only twelve. How could he have killing intent on the same level as Orochimaru, who had seen countless battles?
Back then, Kakashi had been a Jonin when he tried to stop Orochimaru.
The Root Ninja was also a Special Jonin.
Yet Orochimaru had only made Kakashi unable to attack.
Yeyu had made that Special Jonin from Root pass out.
This couldn't be explained by ordinary killing intent.
Hiruzen thought for a moment, then said to Kakashi, "Let's go check on him."
Hiruzen was a little worried that Yeyu might have some kind of psychological problem.
Yeyu was one of the Hokage candidates Hiruzen had chosen. He absolutely couldn't let anything happen to him.
At present, Hiruzen had only two candidates for Hokage: Kakashi and Yeyu.
Yeyu's priority was even higher than Kakashi's.
Though there were two candidates, in reality, there was only one: Yeyu.
Hiruzen didn't want anything to happen to Yeyu at such a crucial time.
Kakashi also realized how serious the situation was.
He and the Third disappeared from the Hokage Office.
The two arrived at Yeyu's door.
After a moment's hesitation, Hiruzen knocked.
Yeyu opened his eyes.
He released his Observation Haki.
After sensing who was outside, Yeyu felt a little helpless. "Why does everyone keep showing up one after another?"
Yeyu was getting a little annoyed.
He opened the door.
He looked at the two people outside. "Lord Hokage, Kakashi-sensei."
Yeyu was in the same class as Sasuke and Naruto, so naturally he called Kakashi "teacher."
This was the first time Kakashi and Yeyu had met formally.
He invited them inside.
The three sat together and drank tea.
Hiruzen saw that Yeyu didn't seem any different.
He smiled. "Yeyu, a Root Ninja came to see you just now, right?"
Yeyu nodded. "He said he was an Anbu Ninja, and that a man named Lord Danzo wanted me to see him."
"Was that man from Root?"
In theory, Yeyu shouldn't know Danzo existed, which was why he asked.
Hiruzen glanced at Kakashi.
Kakashi explained to Yeyu, "Root is a branch of the Anbu. Although it's part of the Anbu, it operates independently. Its members are considered Anbu Ninja."
"Lord Danzo is the leader of Root."
Hiruzen had stripped Danzo of his position as a Hokage Advisor the night he allowed Itachi Uchiha to massacre the Uchiha Clan.
Now, his only position was leader of Root.
Yeyu nodded. "So there really is someone like that, and he has quite a high position."
Though he said that, Yeyu wasn't the least bit afraid.
It was only Danzo. The old Yeyu might have found him a little troublesome.
But now, Yeyu didn't care who he was.
Hiruzen and Kakashi were briefly at a loss for words at Yeyu's remark.
Hiruzen thought for a moment, then asked Yeyu, "Did you use a mental jutsu?"
Kakashi also watched Yeyu.
He was curious how Yeyu had managed to make a Special Jonin pass out from sheer mental pressure.
Even if it had been a genjutsu, it must have been a very high-level one.
Hadn't Yeyu only just graduated from the Ninja Academy?
Yeyu replied casually, "It was just a kind of aura, similar to what you call killing intent."
Kakashi furrowed his brow. "Killing intent? I know what that is, but can killing intent really do that?"
"Wouldn't it just intimidate someone at most?"
Yeyu looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, not all killing intent is the same."
"This is my killing intent!"
Boom!
In an instant, Yeyu's Conqueror's Haki swept over Kakashi.
Kakashi felt his mind reel. It was as if someone had smashed his brain with a heavy hammer.
Just as Kakashi was about to faint, Yeyu withdrew his Conqueror's Haki.
"Is there a bit of a difference?"
Yeyu took a sip of tea and smiled.
Kakashi's nose was bleeding, and tears streamed from his eyes. He had nearly passed out.
Even Yeyu was a little shocked.
His Conqueror's Haki was ridiculously powerful. It had actually been enough to knock Kakashi out.
In the Pirate World, Kakashi would definitely be a powerhouse on the level of a Vice Admiral.
Yet he had nearly been knocked unconscious by Yeyu's Conqueror's Haki. If Yeyu hadn't withdrawn it in time and controlled its intensity, Kakashi would have fainted instantly.
Yeyu wondered, Could it be because of the chakra boost?
Yeyu had two kinds of power within him: chakra and Akainu's power.
Because of Akainu's power, the amount of chakra in his body had surged to thirty times Kakashi's.
Releasing Conqueror's Haki consumed not only Yeyu's stamina, but also his chakra.
With the two powers combined, his Haki was several times stronger than Akainu's had originally been.
It was also incredibly precise. He had directed his Haki at Kakashi.
But Hiruzen, sitting beside him, hadn't felt a thing.
Kakashi's head was still spinning.
He looked at Yeyu, his eyes filled with shock and fear.
It's several times stronger than Orochimaru's killing intent back then. How can Yeyu's killing intent be so terrifying?
He only just graduated from the Ninja Academy. He shouldn't have had enough time or opportunities to develop killing intent like this, right?
Orochimaru's killing intent had been able to intimidate Kakashi because it had been forged through countless battles for survival.
But Yeyu was a newly graduated Ninja. When could he have had the chance to hone it?
Although Hiruzen hadn't felt anything, he could clearly see Kakashi's condition.
"Yeyu, is that a jutsu of yours?"
Hiruzen couldn't help asking.
"It's not a jutsu. It's an aura, an aura used to intimidate others."
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