Konoha Year 59, Ryusuke Draws Attention

Konoha Year 59, Ryusuke Draws Attention

By the time Sasuke Uchiha returned to school, five days had passed.

Just as Ryusuke had expected, Sasuke Uchiha, upon reappearing, radiated an icy aura from head to toe.

The seeds of obsession had already begun to take root.

Yet Sasuke Uchiha's Support Group clearly knew nothing about that.

Instead, they thought Sasuke Uchiha was even cooler now.

The girls in Class One all felt incredibly blessed.

Not only did they have Ryusuke, as gentle as the sun, but also Sasuke Uchiha, as aloof as an iceberg. They had no idea which one they should pursue.

Watching Sasuke Uchiha, whose intimidating presence had sent even his deskmate trembling off to the side, Ryusuke fell into thought.

Although he could not activate it at will yet, Sasuke Uchiha had already awakened the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan.

Did that mean the chances of obtaining the Sharingan and Indra's Chakra had also increased?

Just as Ryusuke was thinking this, Sasuke Uchiha seemed to sense his gaze and suddenly turned to look at him.

"What a terrifying look!"

"What's wrong with Sasuke?"

Both Ino and Sakura were startled by Sasuke Uchiha's gaze.

Ryusuke, however, met his eyes without flinching.

After staring at Ryusuke for several seconds, Sasuke Uchiha finally turned back around.

Ryusuke knew that he had become Sasuke Uchiha's target.

Having become an orphan, Sasuke Uchiha would place enormous importance on the Uchiha Clan's honor.

He would not allow anyone to slander or look down upon the Uchiha Clan.

And he would be even less willing to let himself, the one carrying the Uchiha Clan's honor, be suppressed by Ryusuke.

From now on, he would certainly train and study diligently, doing everything he could to seize the title of Top Student.

That suited Ryusuke perfectly.

If he could freely approach Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha, Ryusuke would have been picking fights with them every day already.

These two reincarnations of the Child of the Sage were the greatest treasures of this era.

If he could thoroughly mine these two treasure troves, Ryusuke's potential would reach the Six Paths.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was March of Konoha Year 59.

Without anyone noticing, nearly four years had passed since the Uchiha Clan's destruction.

The fall of one of Konoha's—and indeed the Shinobi World's—top three great clans had shaken the Shinobi World that year.

Of course, unable to leave the village, Ryusuke had no idea just how great the uproar had been.

But the Uchiha Clan's disappearance had caused already-weakened Konoha's strength to plummet once more.

Yet strangely, those hostile forces had not taken the opportunity to attack Konoha, instead maintaining the existing balance.

That was good news.

Otherwise, if war had broken out, Ryusuke's generation would certainly have been sent to the battlefield ahead of schedule.

If Ryusuke had not awakened the game system, it would not have mattered whether war broke out or not. At their age, they definitely would not have been assigned to the front lines.

But knowing just how great his potential was—and what kind of powerhouse he could become once it was realized—Ryusuke did not want war to break out, at least not yet.

He lacked the strength to head to the front lines, yet he would also have to worry about whether the enemy might suddenly send powerful shinobi to secretly wipe out Konoha's new generation.

Getting killed by some powerful shinobi who might only be a nameless extra in the Fourth Great Ninja War before he had even had the chance to grow was even more unbearable than mastering divine arts, shouting that he was invincible under heaven, and then getting impaled to death by a shoe falling from the sky.

The Five Great Ninja Villages choosing to maintain the current balance was the best possible news for Ryusuke.

Just as Ryusuke had expected, over these nearly four years, Sasuke Uchiha had competed with him at every moment, wanting to snatch the title of Top Student from his hands.

During minor tests and surprise exams involving Taijutsu duels, Sasuke Uchiha had even taken the initiative to ask Iruka to make Ryusuke his opponent.

There was also the incident where Naruto provoked him, only to be effortlessly defeated by Sasuke Uchiha.

Seeing Sasuke Uchiha act as though he would beat up all the other students if he was not arranged to fight Ryusuke, Iruka had a massive headache.

But he did not agree immediately. Instead, he asked for Ryusuke's opinion.

Naturally, Ryusuke agreed. He had been worrying about how to get matched against Sasuke Uchiha in the first place.

Thus, over the past nearly four years, apart from the major exams, Ryusuke's opponent in every other Taijutsu duel—and even in the Kunai Melee Combat matches that began in third grade—had been Sasuke Uchiha.

And naturally, Sasuke Uchiha had lost every challenge over these years.

Sasuke Uchiha might have worked hard, but he could never work harder than Ryusuke.

Ryusuke had mastered the Shadow Clone Technique in his first year. He was not training alone; he was constantly growing, and he had long possessed the strength to graduate early.

If not for trying his luck to see whether he could obtain anything useful over these six years, Ryusuke would have long since followed Uchiha Itachi's example and sent a Shadow Clone to attend class in his place.

Sasuke Uchiha, who still could not activate the Sharingan, simply could not compete with Ryusuke in the fundamentals of being a shinobi.

Naturally, the title of Top Student every year belonged to Ryusuke.

After claiming the title of Top Student year after year and overpowering the heirs of the major shinobi clans of his generation, Ryusuke's reputation spread not only throughout the Ninja Academy, but also reached the eyes of certain important figures.

Yamanaka Inoichi and Hyuga Hiashi in particular paid close attention to the brat who had lured away their daughters.

They had even secretly watched Ryusuke and the others train.

Seeing Ryusuke teach Hinata and the others techniques normally learned only by genin, and seeing that they had all mastered them, Yamanaka Inoichi and Hyuga Hiashi both began to view Ryusuke in a new light. Neither stopped their daughters from playing with him anymore.

Even Sarutobi Hiruzen had begun to take notice of Ryusuke.

With the Fourth Hokage as an example, Sarutobi Hiruzen valued civilian geniuses greatly.

Kekkei Genkai were not important. Talent was what mattered.

Among the four Hokage, only the First Hokage possessed a Kekkei Genkai.

Ryusuke's ability to overpower the heirs of the major shinobi clans and continuously hold onto the position of Top Student showed that both his talent and potential were exceptional.

With some investment and guidance, he might one day become a pillar of the village.

Naturally, Ryusuke had no idea that even his "low-profile" self had drawn the attention of so many important figures.

If he knew that he had already caught the Hokage's attention, Ryusuke would definitely breathe a huge sigh of relief.

He was not afraid of Sarutobi Hiruzen noticing him. What he feared was Shimura Danzō noticing him.

Fortunately, both his parents had once been Konoha chunin and belonged to the Hokage's faction.

He, too, was of the Hokage faction through and through. No matter how domineering Shimura Danzō was, he could not simply send people to seize Ryusuke and brainwash him without a word.

In such a tiny village, there were still so many schemes.

It could not be helped. The saying that wealth never lasts three generations could not have suited Sarutobi Hiruzen better.

How powerful had Konoha once been?

There had been too many Kage-level powerhouses to count on one hand.

But those experts had either been ruined by Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō's schemes, or forced to leave the village.

Now that he was the only one left holding everything up, he finally knew how to panic.