The Seed of Hope

In this year's incoming class, besides Kizaru, three other children from the Shimura Clan were enrolled. They were all carefully selected by the clan, promising saplings with excellent potential.

The three children, two boys and one girl, were named Shimura Tanin, Shimura Yoshihiko, and Shimura Yuki. Among them, Shimura Yoshihiko was the grandson of the Third Elder.

In the village, the Shimura Clan was a second-tier ninja clan on par with the Sarutobi Clan. During its peak, it boasted over eight hundred members and nearly two hundred ninjas, with nearly twenty of them being Jonin or Special Jonin.

After Danzo rose to power, serving as the Hokage Assistant and establishing Root, the clan made enormous sacrifices to support him.

In the decade-plus since Danzo founded Root, the clan's population had shrunk from over eight hundred at its peak to just over five hundred. The number of clan ninjas had been slashed in half, leaving only about a hundred, which could be described as a severe blow to their vitality.

Yet, these massive sacrifices also brought massive gains. With the clan's unstinting support, Danzo firmly grasped control of Root, and his power and status in the village reached a point where he was second only to one, but above ten thousand.

As Danzo's power grew, the number of shops the clan occupied in the village steadily increased. The clan's business flourished, their relationship with the nobles of the Land of Fire grew increasingly intimate, and the land they held within the Land of Fire more than doubled.

At the same time, leveraging his position in Root, Danzo collected numerous mid-to-high-level ninjutsu and even forbidden techniques for the clan.

The current Shimura Clan was at its strongest in the last fifty years, yet also at its most vulnerable.

For the Shimura Clan, what they needed most was time to develop—time to convert the benefits they had reaped over these years into actual strength.

The emergence of Kizaru was an earth-shattering joy for the Shimura Clan. As long as Kizaru could grow smoothly, there was no need to worry about the benefits the clan had seized in recent years being snatched away by other families.

In the future, with a top-tier powerhouse like Kizaru, the clan could even obtain even more benefits.

Precisely because of this, the clan's care and support for Kizaru were comprehensive and spared no cost.

Children of Kizaru's generation heard their parents and elders praise him and offer them admonitions almost every day.

"Kizaru is the future head of our clan; you must respect him and never offend him!"

This was something every child in the Shimura Clan had heard.

Shimura Kizaru was the perfect "child of someone else" that parents always talked about.

Growing up in such an environment, combined with Kizaru's approachable personality, all the children of the same generation in the Shimura Clan worshipped him, and they took pride in being close to him.

Just like Shimura Tanin, Shimura Yoshihiko, and Shimura Yuki, the three were filled with joy knowing they would be classmates with Big Brother Kizaru.

Upon learning he was in the same class as his big brother, Shimura Yoshihiko's face was filled with pride as he boasted to his little friends.

"Hahaha!" Under the envious gazes of his peers, Shimura Yoshihiko stood with his hands on his hips, laughing toward the sky.

"Tch!"

Among the three entering school this year, excluding Kizaru, the only girl—Shimura Yuki, who possessed a pair of spirited, sword-like brows—let out a cold snort of unwillingness when she saw Shimura Yoshihiko laughing so smugly.

Shimura Yuki also worshipped Big Brother Kizaru deeply. She shared a similar background with him; both their parents had sacrificed themselves for Root missions, and they had both been raised collectively by the clan during their early childhood.

Because of these shared experiences and her competitive nature, Shimura Yuki held a fanatical admiration for Kizaru.

In this entrance exam, due to a mistake, Shimura Yuki failed to get into the school's Elite Class, meaning she couldn't be in the same class as Kizaru, which filled her with deep regret.

"Yuki, you're just jealous of me, aren't you?" Shimura Yoshihiko heard her snort. He didn't like this girl who was always clinging to Big Brother Kizaru at all. "Hahaha! Who told you not to study hard? You're always pestering Big Brother Kizaru. Failing to get into the Elite Class is just the result of your usual laziness!"

"You!" Shimura Yuki was furious, her bright eyes glaring fiercely at Shimura Yoshihiko. "At the end-of-year exam, I will challenge you and take back the Elite Class spot from a jerk like you!"

"You?" Shimura Yoshihiko tilted his head arrogantly, looking completely dismissive.

"Alright, stop arguing!" Shimura Tanin, who had the gentlest personality and looked quite refined, stood between them, looking anxious as he tried to mediate.

"Move aside, Tanin!" Annoyed by Shimura Yoshihiko's attitude, Shimura Yuki pushed Shimura Tanin aside, ready to have a real showdown with Yoshihiko.

"Yuki, I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but with Yoshihiko's attitude, if it were me, I wouldn't be able to stand it either," said a small boy with fox-like eyes and glasses standing to the side.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Walking over from a distance, preparing to gather his three little followers to head to school for the opening ceremony, Kizaru heard the fox-eyed boy stirring up trouble before he even got close.

"Shintaro, you guy! You're causing trouble again, aren't you?"

Kizaru stomped his foot and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear directly behind Shimura Shintaro, pressing his right hand onto the little fox's head and rubbing it vigorously.

Ambushed, Shintaro's little face flushed with a hint of shyness. This little guy also worshipped and liked Kizaru very much!

"Don't touch my head, I've already grown up." After being rubbed for a dozen seconds, Shintaro seemed to finally react, raising his hand to push Kizaru's right hand away.

"You guy!" Kizaru shook his head with a smile, bent down, and reached out, extending his index finger to gently tap Shintaro on the forehead.

Having been a "king of the kids" in his previous life, Kizaru had maintained very close relationships with his peers in the clan after reincarnating into the ninja world.

When he was three or four, the mentally mature Kizaru would take the initiative to help the adults look after these little ones and play with them.

This was one of the reasons why Kizaru was so popular among the children of the clan.

Kizaru knew Shintaro very well; he was the Great Elder's grandson. He had been very clever since childhood, but because he was a premature, posthumous child, his health had always been poor, and his aptitude for being a ninja was quite average.

For this grandson who had lost his parents at a young age, the Great Elder felt deep heartache and affection. He didn't want his sickly, mediocre grandson to suffer, so he had no intention of letting Shintaro become a ninja.

The old man's only hope for his grandson was that he could live a safe and happy life!

Precisely because of this, Shintaro, who deeply longed to become a ninja and wanted to go to school with Big Brother Kizaru, felt very envious of the other three.

"Big Brother Kizaru, you will definitely become the strongest ninja in the future!" Shintaro looked up at Kizaru, his eyes seemingly glowing.

"That goes without saying!" Kizaru didn't act modest and accepted it directly.

After saying that, Kizaru stood up straight and looked at the three little ones who had gathered around.

"Yoshihiko, Yuki, Tanin, let's get going! We'll be late if we're any later!"

"I'm ready, Big Brother Kizaru!"

"Brother Kizaru, let's go!"

"Understood, Big Brother Kizaru!"

After the three little ones responded in turn, they puffed out their chests and held their heads high, proudly following behind Kizaru toward the main gate under the envious gazes of their playmates.

I woke up this morning to the news that my contract was approved, and I'm super happy! I never expected to get signed with only 7,000 words; a huge thank you to my editor, Wutong!