Three Years

Only after Li Yi had left did Sarutobi Hiruzen speak: "Kagami, your tutelage of Li Yi is excellent. I believe he is a firm successor to the Will of Fire."

Uchiha Kagami also revealed a smile, saying, "Indeed, this child is very gifted."

"Mm, then you should guide him more. The border lines have become increasingly tense recently, and even the Mist Village has entered the fray. I fear that war will break out again soon!" Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed before speaking.

Uchiha Kagami's expression turned solemn as well, and he asked, "Would you like me to go and scout?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen considered this for a moment, then said, "Forget it. I will have Danzo go instead. You should focus on training Li Yi for now."

In truth, Sarutobi Hiruzen had originally intended to send Uchiha Kagami to gather intelligence, but Li Yi's appearance had given him some other ideas. Thus, he postponed some of Uchiha Kagami's missions; besides, it was all the same if he handed them to Danzo.

Uchiha Kagami did not say anything further. Afterward, the two discussed some matters regarding the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha of this era were not the Uchiha of the Nine-Tails' night; they held great power and controlled the Military Police Force, and their attitude was somewhat arrogant. Therefore, the Third Hokage hoped that Uchiha Kagami could persuade his clansmen not to let too much personal emotion influence their law enforcement.

Uchiha Kagami agreed to this.

At this moment, Li Yi, having already stepped out of the Hokage building, unfolded the scroll. He was curious about what kind of genjutsu the Third Hokage had given him, but upon seeing the name, Li Yi froze. A silent what the hell echoed in his mind. What was the Third Hokage thinking? Why give him this specific genjutsu? This was just asking for trouble.

This genjutsu was called the Bring Darkness Technique, a technique developed by Senju Tobirama specifically to deprive Uchiha clansmen of their sight to counter the Sharingan.

Yet, the Third Hokage had given it to him. One had to remember that he was currently Uchiha Kagami's disciple; whether Li Yi liked it or not, he had been branded with the Uchiha label.

If others found out he was learning this ninjutsu, what would they think?

Damn it, Li Yi felt a headache coming on. He tucked the scroll away and waited outside with a sense of resignation. Regardless, this genjutsu was quite powerful; at worst, he would simply avoid using it within the village.

There was no helping it. There were too many lunatics in the Uchiha clan, and heaven knows if they would think he was a traitor and come after him.

If an outsider learned this technique, they wouldn't say a word, but Li Yi was Kagami's disciple—what was he trying to pull by learning it? Some of the crazier Uchiha would surely jump to the wrong conclusions and cause him trouble. Li Yi did not want to be plagued by such issues; for now, he had to keep a low profile.

Once he had fully developed his Mera Mera no Mi and achieved the Shikai of Ryujin Jakka, heh, then he wouldn't have to care about them anymore. To those who refused to submit, he would show them what it meant for all things in the universe to turn to ash!

After waiting for quite a while, Uchiha Kagami finally emerged. Seeing Li Yi, he said, "Let's go. It's time for your taijutsu training."

Li Yi nodded and followed behind Uchiha Kagami. After they had a meal of grilled meat at a barbecue restaurant, Uchiha Kagami took Li Yi to the training grounds.

By following Uchiha Kagami, a member of the Uchiha clan, Li Yi's diet had improved significantly. Things like grilled meat were usually unaffordable for him and Kosuke, but with Uchiha Kagami, he could eat as much as he wanted because the Uchiha clan was wealthy—they were landed gentry.

Clearly, Uchiha Kagami didn't care about such small expenses.

After a full day of training, Li Yi returned home. After washing up, he took out the scroll and began to study it. He still intended to learn the Bring Darkness Technique.

Li Yi actually possessed high talent for genjutsu because he had a vast amount of spiritual energy, making him formidable in both resisting and casting illusions. According to Uchiha Kagami, Li Yi could actually pursue the path of a genjutsu specialist.

However, Li Yi did not want to be a one-dimensional ninja; he wanted to develop comprehensively so that he would have no weaknesses.

And so, time passed, and Li Yi's growth proceeded smoothly. By now, although war had not officially broken out, the border lines were already in total chaos. It wasn't just the ninjas from the Hidden Villages; the Sand Village and the Rock Village were involved as well. Everyone was fighting, and whoever they encountered, they would clash first and ask questions later.

Only the Cloud Village remained relatively quiet. This was because their Second Raikage had been ambushed by Ginkaku and Kinkaku and was severely wounded; he was now on the verge of death, and the village was busy electing the Third Raikage, leaving them no time to meddle in these affairs.

In three years, Li Yi had grown into a handsome young man. During these three years, Uchiha Kagami had taught him with all his might, even taking Li Yi out on two A-rank missions, which allowed Li Yi to see a great deal of the world.

According to Uchiha Kagami, Li Yi was more than qualified to become a Special Jonin, but Konoha had a complete assessment system, and one had to become a Chunin first.

Today was the day of Li Yi's Chunin exam. Uchiha Kagami had received an emergency mission and had gone to the front lines. Before leaving, he had specifically cheered Li Yi on and even prepared a gift for his promotion to Chunin in advance.

It was nothing other than a stack of Explosive Tags, which made Li Yi very happy. There was no helping it; these were essential consumables for a ninja, and Li Yi had no money. Such luxury items as Explosive Tags could only be obtained by mooching off Uchiha Kagami.

The key was that Uchiha Kagami was truly wealthy; he gave them away by the stack, and one stack meant one hundred tags—more than enough for Li Yi to use.

After all, not everyone was a billionaire like Konan.

Konoha's Chunin exam was held internally, and no ninjas from other countries were invited to participate. It was wartime, after all, and no country would send their Genin to take exams in another nation.

The Chunin exam was simple. Although there was a written test, Li Yi discovered some loopholes. It was mainly about gathering intelligence, so Li Yi simply used a genjutsu to control a proctor, making the teacher look at someone else's answers and pass them on to him.

As for the second stage, it was even simpler: obtaining the Heaven and Earth scrolls in the Forest of Death. Li Yi was temporarily grouped with two other Genin. Li Yi had never heard their names before, so he assumed they were just background characters who would likely die during the war.

Therefore, Li Yi had no intention of getting to know his teammates well. He simply exchanged names, and then led the two of them in a rapid dash through the jungle. This maneuver left his two teammates completely bewildered—weren't they supposed to be searching for the Heaven scroll? After all, the three of them were holding the Earth scroll.

In the end, Li Yi headed straight for the tower in the center of the Forest of Death, showing no intention of searching for scrolls at all.