Still Need to Discuss with Him Who the Advisor Is?

The Third Hokage shook his head. "They are not even on the same level."

"Furthermore, I am not sure if he is skilled in ninjutsu, as he has not yet begun formal training."

Kakashi was stunned. "Huh? Does 'not yet begun formal training' mean he is still just a student?"

Kakashi felt his own thought was absurd.

Yet, the Third Hokage's next words made it seem even more ridiculous.

The Third Hokage said, "Tomorrow is the day he officially becomes a ninja."

That single sentence nearly caused Kakashi's brain to short-circuit.

A student who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy could cause this level of destruction with a single punch, and he had even refused the Third Hokage's personal tutelage?

Had he heard that correctly?

"Are you serious?"

The Third Hokage nodded. "Do you think I would lie about something like this?"

"Kakashi, how do you suggest I bring him to my side to train him?"

"I spoke to him about it, but he refused, citing a lack of interest. Why would that be?"

Kakashi was silent for a moment before saying, "Could it be because he is young and feels that being by your side would be restrictive and stifle his freedom?"

The Third Hokage pondered this. "That is possible. It seems I need to make things clear to him."

"He hid his strength at the Ninja Academy precisely because he didn't want to be under the spotlight, didn't he?"

"Perhaps he is simply someone who dislikes being constrained."

"You have reminded me of something."

Watching the Third Hokage mutter to himself, Kakashi was speechless.

Had the Third Hokage lost his mind?

However, when he thought about how a student of only about twelve years old could unleash such destruction, it was understandable why the Third Hokage was so eager to cultivate him.

At his age, the fact that the Third Hokage still could not find a suitable successor was a source of helplessness in itself.

He was likely feeling desperate.

Kakashi knew that the Third Hokage intended to groom him to become the Fifth Hokage.

Otherwise, he would not have made him the captain of the Anbu.

The Anbu was, after all, the Hokage's direct subordinate force.

It was just that his own strength had remained at the level of an Elite Jonin for a long time.

Without a breakthrough, even if the Third Hokage wanted to groom him to be the Fifth Hokage, his strength was insufficient.

As for the Third Hokage's son.

Asuma's philosophy clashed with the Third Hokage's, but that was a minor issue; the real problem was that Asuma's strength was not even on par with Kakashi's.

He had no qualifications whatsoever to become Hokage.

As for Jiraiya and Tsunade, one was obsessed with finding the Child of Prophecy and wandered all over the ninja world.

The other suffered from hemophobia; as a medical ninja, having hemophobia meant she was essentially useless.

Moreover, the Third Hokage did not actually believe that Jiraiya or Tsunade were suitable to be Hokage.

They didn't want the position, and the Third Hokage had never intended for them to have it either.

As for Orochimaru, he was his favorite student, but that was all there was to it.

He did not think Orochimaru was suitable to be Hokage.

He would rather groom Kakashi than let any of the Sannin become Hokage.

Kakashi looked at the Third Hokage and asked, "Is he on the graduation list for tomorrow?"

The Third Hokage nodded. "Yes, and he is in the same class as Naruto and Sasuke."

Kakashi frowned, trying to recall which students in Naruto and Sasuke's class could possibly be that person.

But after thinking for a long time, Kakashi had absolutely no impression of him.

Because he only paid attention to students from prominent clans or those with excellent grades.

Yeyu, a student with mediocre grades, was completely outside of Kakashi's field of vision.

Therefore, no matter how he thought about it, he never considered Yeyu.

Seeing Kakashi lost in thought, the Third Hokage waved his hand. "Alright, no need to guess. You will likely know who it is tomorrow."

"I am still having a headache over which teacher to assign to him."

"All the suitable Jonin have already been assigned students, and he refuses to come to my side."

"It seems I'll have to discuss it with him tomorrow."

Kakashi's mouth twitched. "You have to consult him just to find him a mentor?"

The Third Hokage's indulgence had reached an absurd level.

The Third Hokage did indeed have this flaw; when he favored someone, he would spoil them without any bottom line.

When he favored Orochimaru, he could even tolerate his crimes. Even when he had the chance to finish him off, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Having promised Xidai to look after Naruto, he instead indulged Naruto in pulling pranks all over the village.

This left the villagers full of complaints against him, yet the Third Hokage would only ever offer a few light words of reprimand before letting him go.

The villagers' intense hatred for Naruto was certainly fueled in no small part by the Third Hokage's indulgence.

If Naruto's pranks had been stopped and punished in a timely manner, he wouldn't have continued to act out, and the villagers wouldn't have grown to despise him so much.

No one likes someone who acts recklessly and never faces any consequences.

Not to mention that his original identity was already highly sensitive.

Now, the Third Hokage was treating Yeyu the same way.

He was even willing to discuss the assignment of a mentor with Yeyu.

Even the Third Hokage's own son hadn't received such treatment.

However, the Third Hokage didn't see any problem with it.

After all, Yeyu's strength and potential were truly worth such indulgence.

Throughout the night, only Yeyu slept soundly.

Despite being disturbed a few times, once his mind was free of worries, he slept very well.

The next day, he arrived at the Ninja Academy.

He tied his ninja headband around his arm and walked into the classroom wearing simple, plain clothes.

When Yeyu entered the classroom, no one paid him any mind.

He had always been an invisible person in the class.

He didn't even have a single friend to talk to.

Although he was decent-looking, he hadn't reached the level of Sasuke, whose handsomeness was enough to make one feel they didn't need to work hard at all.

However, Naruto, who had been bragging to Shikamaru and the others about how powerful the Shadow Clone Technique he had learned was, suddenly turned fearful the moment he saw Yeyu walk in.

Seeing Naruto's reaction, Shikamaru and the others were confused. "Hey, Naruto, what's wrong with you?"

"Why did you suddenly stop talking?"

Yeyu paid them no attention, heading straight to his seat and resting his head on the desk to sleep.

Naruto looked restrained, his voice unclear as he muttered, "N-nothing, it's nothing."

Ever since he saw Yeyu beat Mizuki so miserably yesterday, he had been terrified of him.

He even felt lucky that he had never played any pranks on Yeyu before.

It was precisely because Yeyu had been an invisible, unremarkable person in class previously.

When Naruto wanted to pull pranks to attract his classmates' attention, he would naturally target those who were famous in class.

For instance, students from prominent clans, or Sasuke, who was the most popular student in the entire grade.

Before last night, Yeyu had never even been on Naruto's radar.

Seeing that Yeyu hadn't noticed him, Naruto gradually began to relax.

When he went back last night, Iruka had instructed him not to tell his classmates about what happened with Yeyu.

Although Iruka wasn't the most cunning person, he knew that Yeyu's performance yesterday definitely couldn't be exposed to the public.

On this point, he still had some sense of discretion.

He had told the Third Hokage because Naruto had seen it too, and he wanted to secure better treatment for Yeyu.

Based on Yeyu's previous performance at school, it would have been impossible for him to be assigned a good mentor.