Mito Uzumaki

In the woods at the edge of Konoha.

Thunderous booms rang out without end.

Across a large stretch of the forest, trees lay toppled over and flames burned.

Having unleashed the final sword form of Thunder Breathing, Chiyu stood motionless where he was.

After being tormented for so long, Chiyu finally heard the sweetest sound in the world.

[Thunder Breathing simulation successful. Rewards have been distributed. The system will relinquish control.]

The moment Chiyu regained control of his body, he collapsed to the ground and curled up, convulsing.

Pain...

Everything hurt.

It hurt so badly that Chiyu did not even have the strength to cry out.

Chiyu deeply regretted choosing the woods as the place for the system to take over his body.

Because he could not even move a finger now, and raging flames burned all around him.

If he did not find a way to save himself, Chiyu would burn to death here.

After lying on the ground for a while, Chiyu felt his body growing hotter and hotter.

His will to survive forced Chiyu to move.

Fortunately, he had chosen a place with a small river. As long as he crawled into it, he would be saved.

But Chiyu crawled incredibly slowly. He could already feel his ass being burned.

Just as Chiyu was finally about to crawl into the river, several figures landed in front of him.

Chiyu laboriously raised his head. When he saw the person at their head, his pupils constricted.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Although Chiyu had guessed that Konoha would notice what was happening here, he had not expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to come personally.

At least he should be saved now. He could worry about the rest later.

The moment Chiyu's tense mind relaxed, he immediately passed out.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he looked at Chiyu, his eyes filled with confusion.

The scene here had clearly been left behind by the attacks of a Lightning Release ninja.

And Chiyu was the only person here. Moreover, his hands clearly bore the burns left by using Lightning Release Ninjutsu.

Yet the destruction throughout the area was something even a Chunin would struggle to cause.

Could Chiyu, a student still attending the Ninja Academy, really have done this?

Hiruzen Sarutobi found it utterly unbelievable.

As for Chiyu, Hiruzen Sarutobi's impression of him was not really bad.

Although Chiyu's parents had supposedly defected from Konoha, to be honest, it had not truly been a betrayal of Konoha. They had eloped.

The conflict had been between Chiyu's parents and the Uchiha Clan, not between them and Konoha.

It was simply that the Uchiha Clan did not acknowledge Chiyu, while Konoha's villagers vented their resentment toward the Uchiha Clan on him.

Now, the villagers of Konoha resented the Uchiha Clan more and more deeply, and there were already signs that the two sides could no longer coexist.

Yet the situation in the ninja world was not as peaceful as it appeared. War could break out at any moment, and Konoha still needed the Uchiha Clan's strength.

Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not make a move against the Uchiha Clan for the time being.

On one side were the villagers, and on the other was the Uchiha Clan, so Hiruzen Sarutobi had simply chosen to ignore Chiyu's existence.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could not be completely certain that Chiyu had caused this, but if he had, then Hiruzen Sarutobi would have to reassess Chiyu's value.

Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes as he looked at the unconscious Chiyu.

Moreover, Lightning Release ninjas were exceedingly rare in Konoha. If Chiyu had caused this destruction, then it meant he possessed a powerful Lightning Release Ninjutsu.

Since Chiyu had returned to Konoha with his mother, he had never left the village. That meant he must have obtained this Lightning Release Ninjutsu outside the village.

If Konoha's Lightning Release users could learn such a ninjutsu, Konoha's strength would rise considerably.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave the Anbu beside him an order. "Put out the surrounding flames, then take him to the Ninja Hospital for treatment."

Once the order was given, the Anbu ninja used Water Release Ninjutsu to extinguish the surrounding flames.

One of the Anbu then hoisted Chiyu onto his shoulder and carried him to the Ninja Hospital.

Mito Uzumaki's residence.

After being rejected by Chiyu, Kushina Uzumaki returned to Mito Uzumaki's residence in a daze.

When Kushina Uzumaki had first arrived in Konoha, she had lived here with Mito Uzumaki.

When Mito Uzumaki saw Kushina Uzumaki return, she smiled and asked, "Kushina, how was your first day at the Ninja Academy? Did everything go smoothly?"

Kushina Uzumaki pursed her lips and called out aggrievedly, "Grandma Mito."

Seeing Kushina Uzumaki's aggrieved expression, Mito Uzumaki stepped forward, picked her up, and sat down on the tatami. "What happened?"

Kushina Uzumaki told Mito Uzumaki how she had been called Tomato in class, how she had beaten up the people who bullied her, and how Chiyu had rejected her when she tried to befriend him.

"Chiyu?" Mito Uzumaki murmured.

Hearing Mito Uzumaki murmur his name, Kushina Uzumaki asked curiously, "Grandma Mito, do you know Chiyu?"

"Yes, I've heard of him."

Mito Uzumaki's voice was somewhat low.

How could she not know him?

Chiyu's father was from the Senju Clan, a clansman of the same clan as her husband, Hashirama Senju.

But after Konoha was founded, Hashirama Senju, as the head of the Senju Clan, had dissolved the clan. All its members married Konoha villagers and had long since blended into the crowd.

When Chiyu's parents had defected from Konoha, Mito Uzumaki had even pleaded with Hiruzen Sarutobi on their behalf.

But she had failed, because Chiyu's mother was from the Uchiha Clan.

As Konoha's largest clan, the Uchiha Clan had to be given due consideration even by Hiruzen Sarutobi as Hokage.

Later, when Chiyu returned to Konoha, Mito Uzumaki had proposed adopting him, but Hiruzen Sarutobi had rejected that as well.

The reason Hiruzen Sarutobi gave was Mito Uzumaki's status, as well as Chiyu's identity.

Chiyu's parents were rogue ninja, and he was not acknowledged by the Uchiha Clan.

As the First Hokage's wife, Mito Uzumaki was not suited to adopting a child whose parents were rogue ninja and who had been abandoned by the Uchiha Clan.

Back then, Mito Uzumaki had lamented that Hiruzen Sarutobi had become somewhat unfamiliar to her after succeeding as Hokage.

Mito Uzumaki stroked Kushina Uzumaki's hair and asked, "Do you know why Chiyu refused to be friends with you?"

Kushina Uzumaki said pitifully, "He said, 'The entire village has isolated me. If you become my friend, everyone might isolate you too.' Then he told me to change seats when I went back to school and left."

Mito Uzumaki's gaze flickered. "Isolated by the entire village... Sigh, Monkey, Chiyu did nothing wrong."

Mito Uzumaki let out a deep sigh, her heart aching over Chiyu's circumstances.

But there was nothing she could do now. She could not change Chiyu's situation.

Looking at the unhappy Kushina Uzumaki, Mito Uzumaki fell into thought.