New Assassination Mission

After a boring day, Uchiha Yu followed his usual routine and brought Deidara, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sasuke to the training ground at their old base.

"Same rules as always, start fighting. I'll be supervising you," Uchiha Yu said, standing to the side with his arms crossed.

Only then did he feel a sense of vitality return.

It was all Iruka's fault for being so hypnotic...

The kids slept even more soundly than Shikamaru...

"Heh, here to witness my art again?" Deidara kneaded the Explosive Clay in his hands, wearing a wicked grin.

His chakra reserves and combat experience were both a cut above Sasuke and Naruto.

"Hmph, I won't lose to you this time!"

Sasuke threw down the gauntlet, and he and Naruto immediately launched a two-on-one assault against Deidara.

Three hours later, Deidara was panting heavily, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

With his chakra nearly exhausted, he had finally managed to blast Sasuke and Naruto into the dirt.

"Why does it feel like they're harder to deal with than yesterday?" Deidara wiped his brow.

"Not bad. It seems you've mostly grasped Deidara's attack patterns," Uchiha Yu said, using Wood Release to provide a simple recovery for Sasuke and Naruto. "However, your combat experience is still too shallow. A real enemy won't give you two days to slowly adapt to them."

Naruto, lying on the ground, felt his injuries mostly fade under the shroud of Wood Release energy. He sat up with a thud and asked suspiciously, "Second Brother, but we can't even find any real enemies right now! Isn't it a bit too early to be talking about this?"

Sasuke sat up as well and immediately slapped Naruto on the back of the head.

"You idiot dead-last! Why are you so dense? Who says we won't run into enemies? Don't think of the ninja world as being that simple!"

Caught off guard by the slap, Uzumaki Naruto clutched the back of his head, grimacing. Once he recovered, he immediately started wrestling with Sasuke.

"Damn it! Sasuke! I'm going to make you pay!"

"Idiot! You think I'm afraid of you?"

The two of them rolled around on the ground for ages, leaving Uchiha Yu so embarrassed he felt like he could dig a three-bedroom apartment out of the floorboards.

"Alright, that's enough." Uchiha Yu pulled Sasuke and Naruto apart. "Sasuke is right. No one can guarantee whether an accident or tomorrow will arrive first. Naruto, you need to develop a sense of crisis in advance."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, seemingly accepting Uchiha Yu's point.

Uchiha Yu still didn't feel entirely at ease with these two.

He was thinking that if the remnants of the Root Organization hiding in the shadows really tried to stir up trouble in seven days, perhaps these two would still be of some use.

If they could pull off a decent attack, it would reflect well on him and significantly increase his standing within the clan.

But looking at these two little brats...

What exactly was he counting on?

"Remember what I said. Start training again, and don't you dare let your guard down." Uchiha Yu sent them back to their training.

Just like yesterday, Uzumaki Naruto was beaten into the dirt by Sasuke, then hung up and thrashed by Uchiha Yu. Afterward, he continued to lecture them on combat theory until two in the morning before finally sending Naruto home.

Uchiha Yu knew that days like these would likely continue for a long, long time...

At the very least, they wouldn't be free of this routine until they graduated from the Ninja Academy.

But Naruto and Sasuke would certainly grow quickly.

The expectation Uchiha Yu set for them was that by the time they became Genin, they would have at least the strength of a Chunin!

Seven days passed in a flash. Between sleeping during the day and training at night, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke looked exhausted, but their combat prowess and experience had improved significantly.

Tomorrow was the day Uchiha Fugaku would succeed as Hokage...

The ceremony was to be held in front of the Hokage Building. Envoys from the other four great nations had already arrived to observe, and even the Kazekage, Rasa, had personally brought Gaara to Konoha.

It would undoubtedly be a spectacular, crowded scene.

But that was exactly why it was so dangerous!

No one knew if there were people hiding in the crowd just waiting to cause trouble!

In front of the Hokage Building, Uchiha Yu, Sasuke, Naruto, and Deidara stood nearby, watching a team of craftsmen build the viewing platform.

"Tomorrow is the day the Fifth Hokage takes office!" Uzumaki Naruto said, full of excitement. For him, becoming Hokage was his greatest dream. "I'm definitely going to become the Sixth Hokage!"

Uchiha Yu gave a bitter smile. Don't worry, the Sixth will probably be Shisui or Uchiha Itachi. You don't stand a chance until at least the Seventh.

Still, young people... it's good to have dreams! You can't just be a couch potato!

"Why does it feel like there are so many strange people around?" The sharp-eyed Sasuke scanned the area, noticing many people dressed as ordinary citizens who possessed highly unusual auras.

"Those are plainclothes ninjas from the Konoha Military Police Force. They're on the lookout for anyone trying to sabotage the event, like planting little explosive cuties," Uchiha Yu explained, as he was quite familiar with these matters. "After all, the Hokage's inauguration is extremely important. If anything goes wrong, the consequences would be disastrous."

"What? Explosions? I want to cause an explosion too!!!" Upon hearing the word 'explosion,' Deidara instantly lost his composure.

Uchiha Yu: "...There's a time and place for that kind of thing. If you actually cause trouble at the inauguration, even Senju Hashirama couldn't save you..."

After some ideological work, he finally managed to get Deidara to abandon that dangerous idea.

"What a pity, I can't use my art on an occasion like this!" Deidara shook his head helplessly, his face full of grief and indignation.

Uchiha Yu could only sigh.

Who the hell wants to see your high-explosive detonation?

However, tonight is indeed the time for a reckoning, for instance, those remnants of the Root Organization...

Nighttime.

Inside an abandoned house on the outskirts of Konoha.

Over a dozen ninjas, wearing masks, gathered together.

They were the very remnants of the Root Organization!

Among them were four Jonin and nine Chunin.

Leading them were none other than Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune.

"Ever since Lord Danzo died, we've been wanted by Konoha! Damn the Uchiha Clan!" Aburame Torune said with an angry expression, slamming his fist hard onto the table.

With a crack, the table instantly split open with a large fissure.

Yamanaka Fu patted Aburame Torune on the shoulder and said, "Calm down. Tomorrow is the day Uchiha Fugaku succeeds to his position; we must do something so as not to let down the cultivation Lord Danzo invested in us!"

Aburame Torune clenched his fists, his eyes showing resolve. "That's right, at the Hokage inauguration ceremony tomorrow, we must kill Uchiha Fugaku!"

Yamanaka Fu shook his head, revealing a snake-like smile. "No, no, not tomorrow—tonight!"