Hiruzen Sarutobi's Test: This Kid Has the Bearing of the First Hokage!

In the gloomy alley, Sen stopped walking.

That hoarse laughter still echoed.

But what emerged was not that ghost-pale man.

It was a deathly white venomous snake, flicking its tongue with a hiss.

"The little brat of the Senju clan... very interesting..."

Orochimaru's nauseating voice came from the snake's mouth.

Sen rolled his eyes dramatically, his face full of disgust.

"Why are you pretending to be a loudspeaker in the middle of the night?"

He raised his foot and stomped down without hesitation.

Splat.

The white snake was crushed into a puddle of flesh, and that chilling chakra instantly dissipated.

"Disgusting. No sense of hygiene at all."

Sen wiped his sole against the wall, yawned, and went home to sleep.

Early the next morning.

Before Sen had even woken up, two ANBU agents dragged him out of bed.

With a bird's nest of hair on his head, he was brought all the way underground beneath the Hokage Building.

This was the Hokage's private secret training ground.

The surrounding walls were all made of specially crafted sealing stone, utterly indestructible.

Rubbing his eyes, Sen looked at the shriveled old man standing in the middle of the field.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The old man was not wearing his loose ceremonial robe today. Instead, he had changed into a neat black combat outfit.

He held a thick combat report in his hand, his eyes frighteningly bright.

"Grandpa Hokage, calling me here so early... are you planning to do some morning exercise?"

Sen yawned, full of resentment.

The Third did not smile. A sharp gleam flashed through his cloudy old eyes.

"Sen, I read this report."

He waved the papers in his hand, his tone extremely grave.

"No hand seals. Not even a fluctuation of chakra. Yet simply through pressure alone, you caused a sixth-year student to suffer a mental breakdown."

The Third stared intently into Sen's eyes.

"That can no longer be explained away as an 'accident.'"

Sen's heart skipped a beat. This is bad.

This old fox was clearly determined to probe his true capabilities.

"I really didn't do anything."

Sen continued playing dumb and spread his hands.

"Fine. Since you refuse to speak, this old man will test you himself."

The Third did not give Sen any chance to keep making excuses.

He casually tossed aside the report and abruptly pressed his hands together before his chest.

His hand seals were so fast that they left only afterimages!

"Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger!"

Scorching chakra gathered wildly in the Third's mouth.

Sen's pupils instantly dilated, his face filled with disbelief.

"Holy shit! Old man, that's playing dirty! I'm only six!"

The Third took a deep breath, his chest swelling high.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Boom!

A massive fireball more than two meters wide roared toward Sen, carrying terrifying heat.

Even though the Third had deliberately restrained its power.

For an ordinary six-year-old child, this was still an absolutely devastating attack!

The heatwave rushed at him, even singeing several strands of Sen's bangs.

He's really trying to kill me!

Sen cursed furiously in his heart.

Playing it safe was one thing, but what was the point of it if he was dead?

He had no time to dodge. Acting on instinct alone, he slammed his hands together.

The ocean-like chakra within him instantly boiled and surged wildly through his meridians.

Since he could no longer hide it, he might as well block it!

"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"

Sen shouted as the Divine Tree Origin erupted.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The hard stone floor instantly shattered.

Rows of curved wooden pillars, each more than half a meter thick, rose from the ground like gigantic shields.

They burst from the earth at an unbelievable speed!

Locking tightly together, they formed an impregnable hemispherical barrier in front of Sen.

The next second, the fireball slammed into the wooden wall.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed through the underground training ground.

Wild flames scattered in all directions, dyeing the entire training ground red.

The scorching heat severely distorted the air itself.

The Third stood beyond the firelight, his eyes fixed on the center of the explosion.

Although he had used only twenty percent of his strength in that attack, it was still not something an ordinary genin could withstand.

Besides, what he wanted to see was not whether Sen could block it.

What he wanted to see was how Sen would block it!

Gradually, the flames began to fade.

Within the billowing smoke, that curved wooden barrier was clearly revealed.

The Third sucked in a sharp breath and staggered two steps forward.

It was undamaged.

There was not even the slightest scorch mark!

A faint metallic sheen flowed across the surfaces of those wooden pillars.

Not only had they withstood the terrifying heat, they were even greedily absorbing the fire-nature chakra drifting through the air.

Several tender green leaves had actually sprouted from the branches!

They radiated a vigorous vitality that made one's heart tremble.

Rustle.

The Wood Locking Wall slowly lowered and withdrew into the ground.

It revealed Sen Senju standing behind it, completely unharmed.

Sen dusted off his clothes and looked helplessly at the old man across from him.

"Grandpa Hokage, that greeting of yours nearly roasted me into suckling pig."

The Third said nothing.

As if possessed, he trembled as he walked up to Sen.

He extended his callused hands and gently touched a section of wooden root left on the ground.

Feeling the life energy within that wood, pure to the extreme.

The Third's eyes instantly reddened.

Two muddy tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks.

"This chakra density... this unimaginable vitality..."

The old man's lips trembled violently.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at the six-year-old standing before him with a disgusted expression.

An unprecedented fervor and excitement erupted in his eyes.

"Just like him! So much like him!"

The Third grabbed Sen by the shoulders, his grip astonishingly strong.

"Child, you truly have the bearing of the First Hokage!"

Sen's shoulders hurt from the grip, and he rolled his eyes inwardly.

Great. This old man has completely lost it.

He had originally wanted to muddle through with an excuse about being ignorant, but now he had even used Wood Release for defense.

Half his trump card had been completely exposed.

"Grandpa Hokage, let go first. My bones are about to fall apart."

Sen struggled free and stepped back, rubbing his shoulders.

"I just flailed around in a panic. If you make me do it again, I won't be able to block it."

"Flailing around?"

The Third laughed through his tears and roughly wiped his face.

"You call this level of Wood Release defense flailing around?"

He took a deep breath and tried to calm the stormy waves of emotion within his heart.

If the orchard before had merely been an accident, then that instantaneous defense just now had been genuine combat instinct!

This child was absolutely a monstrous genius, one seen only once in a century!

He could not let Sen keep wasting his time at the ninja academy!

He had to immediately bring him under the Hokage's absolute control and training!

The Third clasped his hands behind his back, his expression becoming incomparably solemn.

"Sen, you are a smart child, so I will not beat around the bush."

He looked into Sen's eyes, his voice carrying an unyielding decisiveness.

"A place like the ninja academy is no longer suitable for you."

Sen's heart skipped a beat, and a sense of foreboding instantly enveloped his entire body.

"No, Grandpa Hokage, what do you mean by that?"

Sen hurriedly waved his hands, trying to salvage his crumbling slacker life.

"I think school is great. The classmates talk so nicely, and I really love it there."

The Third completely ignored his protest and directly dropped a bombshell.

"I have decided. Starting tomorrow."

"You will graduate early!"

"And..."

The Third paused, a sharp glint flashing through his cloudy eyes.

"I will personally be your instructor!"