The one who called out to him was Obito.
Minato-sensei, Kakashi, and Rin were sitting across from him.
But that wasn't what surprised Uchiha Yuzhen.
What caught him off guard was—
the two people beside Obito.
One of them was sitting next to Obito, directly across from Kakashi.
He was highly recognizable.
That bowl cut, and that tight-fitting outfit.
It was definitely Guy.
The other one was much more interesting...
He was a small child, about three or four years old.
That distinctive dumpling nose, and the same clan crest on his clothes as Yuzhen's.
Uchiha Shisui?
Recognizing the two who weren't part of Team Minato, Yuzhen walked over to the table.
After politely greeting everyone there,
he smiled slightly at Obito.
"Who are these two...?"
Hearing Uchiha Yuzhen's question,
Obito laughed heartily.
"Hahahaha! This little guy is my relative. He's an Uchiha, too. His name is Shisui."
"His parents went on a mission today, and there was no one at home, so I brought him along to have barbecue with us."
As he spoke, he patted Shisui on the shoulder. "This is the big brother Yuzhen I told you about."
Uchiha Shisui turned his gaze toward Yuzhen.
He'd been hearing his cousin Obito talk about Uchiha Yuzhen all the time lately.
How, after awakening the Sharingan, his strength had grown at an incredible rate.
How he was a genius, a monster, and all sorts of things...
In short, Shisui could tell that his cousin Obito
seemed to admire Yuzhen a little!
Influenced by his cousin Uchiha Obito, Shisui was naturally curious about Yuzhen.
But they'd only just met, so he couldn't start asking him all sorts of questions.
Shisui, who was naturally perceptive, knew that much.
He politely faced Yuzhen
and bowed slightly.
"Nice to meet you, Brother Yuzhen. I hope you'll look after me from now on."
Uchiha Yuzhen smiled, stepped over to Shisui, and patted him on the shoulder.
"No need to be so formal. Once you start at the Ninja Academy, you can come ask me directly if there's anything you don't understand."
"Okay, Brother Yuzhen!"
After Shisui sat back down, Uchiha Yuzhen did his best to suppress his excitement.
He prepared to greet Guy, who was sitting to the side, too.
This was amazing!
The moment he'd touched Shisui, a golden Affix had flashed straight into his eyes.
There was no need to think twice. He immediately told the system to extract it.
[Phantom Fate (Gold)]: Your fate will make you... the strongest Genjutsu user in this world! Effect: Super-Domain Amplification of Genjutsu!
The moment Yuzhen saw this Affix, there was no way he could keep from getting excited.
A ninja's abilities—never mind all the miscellaneous ratings on the ninja identification card—
could be broadly summed up in three areas.
Ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu!
Ninjutsu and taijutsu were already enough for Uchiha Yuzhen at this point.
But genjutsu had always been a source of frustration for him.
With the boost from his Sharingan,
his genjutsu looked decent at first glance, but the closer you looked, the worse it got.
His level of genjutsu was fine when paired with Uchiha Style Nintaijutsu.
But when he used it on its own against a ninja of equal rank...
Even with the boost from the Sharingan, it still fell short.
It was more or less like Sasuke Uchiha: when facing opponents of the same level, he could barely use genjutsu at all.
Now, with the Super-Domain Amplification from this Affix, his genjutsu would improve enormously.
All these thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.
In reality,
after seeing Shisui and Yuzhen meet,
Obito pulled Guy, who was looking a little ill at ease, over to him.
He explained to Yuzhen,
"This is Might Guy, a classmate of mine, Rin's, and Kakashi's."
Obito didn't have many people at school he cared about.
Rin and Kakashi went without saying.
Among their classmates, Might Guy was a fellow "dead last," and he also got along well with Kakashi.
Naturally, they were quite close.
This time, he and Kakashi had run into Guy alone on the street.
Without a second thought, they'd invited him along.
After all, everyone in Team Minato knew each other.
Facing the uneasy Guy, Uchiha Yuzhen simply held out his hand.
With a warm smile, he said,
"It's nice to meet you, Guy."
Seeing how friendly Yuzhen was, Might Guy finally relaxed.
The furrow in his brow eased.
He hurriedly took Uchiha Yuzhen's hand,
and replied somewhat nervously,
"I'm glad to meet you, too!"
As for this Uchiha he'd just met, Guy didn't have any particular thoughts about him yet.
At this stage, people still mocked him because he could only use taijutsu.
His personality was a little reserved.
Aside from Kakashi and Kakashi's circle of friends,
he didn't really have anyone else he cared about.
Yuzhen wasn't concerned with Guy's thoughts.
He only cared about getting the Affix.
The moment their hands met, a purplish-blue Affix light appeared.
Uchiha Yuzhen was a little disappointed.
Might Guy...
This powerful shinobi, who would later nearly kick Madara to death, didn't have a Gold Affix?
But Yuzhen quickly reconsidered.
Guy was certainly strong.
But you couldn't ignore how hard he worked out every day.
And there was the unique nature of the Eight Inner Gates.
Thinking of that, he focused his mind, and the system extracted the Purple Affix.
[Steel Training (Purple)]: A determined spirit will turn the body into steel. Effect: Consistent training will improve your physique.
This Affix was very special.
It wasn't one that took effect directly.
It focused on long-term benefits!
From the description, it basically meant that working out every day
would make the body stronger.
A great Affix.
In a world where offense was strong and defense was weak, if he trained his body to its limit—
he didn't mean the sort of physique found in fantasy worlds.
Even reaching the kind of physical strength found in the world of One Piece would be a huge improvement for Yuzhen.
As Yuzhen and Guy let go of each other's hands and sat down,
the atmosphere at the gathering
grew more and more festive.
Everyone ate and drank merrily.
Finally, after Minato handed out the mission rewards, the gathering drew to a close.
Outside the Yakiniku Restaurant,
once everyone had gone their separate ways,
Minato called out to Yuzhen.
"Yuzhen, come with me to meet Lord Hokage first thing tomorrow morning."
Hearing that, Uchiha Yuzhen turned around, surprised.
"I'm going to meet Lord Hokage?"
"That's right! You handed over the Kubikiribōchō, and your performance on this mission... Lord Hokage has decided to reward you!"
At that, Yuzhen suddenly understood.
Right, he'd handed the village one of the Mist Ninja's signature weapons, a Ninja Blade.
He'd also defeated Biwa Juzo during this mission.
No matter what, the village wouldn't treat him unfairly.
After all, if they really did,
everyone in Konoha would see it.
That would leave everyone bitterly disappointed.
It wouldn't be easy to keep the team together after that.
"Okay, Minato-sensei. I'll go with you to meet Lord Hokage tomorrow morning."
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