You Should Call Me Uncle!

Reading books is different; it is about learning a system, pondering the underlying principles, and even exploring many things that are "unknown."

This stuff cannot make your fists harder instantly like learning ninjutsu. It broadens your foundation, solidifies your base, and improves that invisible soft power.

"But my brain is sharp." Hibari shook his head with a bit of cockiness. "While learning these theories, I can also study ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and so on."

"Recently, I have been looking for information on fusing chakra natures and tinkering with bloodline limits. I figure if I really can't master Lord Hashirama's Wood Release secret techniques, creating something like Scorch Release or Lava Release wouldn't be too embarrassing, right?"

"You child, you haven't even finished what's in your bowl, and you're already eyeing what's in the pot." Mito shook her head helplessly. "You have to walk the path one step at a time to be steady."

"You haven't even figured out the issues with your own Water Release, yet you're thinking about touching bloodline limits. What am I supposed to say to you?"

Hibari made a face at her. "Time waits for no one, Grandma Mito. My first step is decided. If you don't have any other instructions, I'm going to the village official office to get the key from the Second Lord..."

"I just praised you for not being impatient, and now you're showing your true colors." Mito was amused, then reminded him, "Also, that is not a 'village official office.' Don't go around saying that. Your Grandpa Hashirama is the 'Hokage' of the village, you have to..."

"I know, I know." Before she could finish, Hibari chimed in with a grin. "Outside, I have to give Lord Hashirama and the Second Lord Tobirama enough 'face.' Don't worry, my lips are sealed."

"Hmm, as long as you understand." Mito just mentioned it in passing. She knew Hibari had a sense of propriety, so she naturally reached out to take her parcel. "Looking at you, if I stop you any longer, you'll be jumping with impatience. Go on."

"Alright! Princess Tsunade, you be good and learn well from Grandma Mito. If you're naughty again, I'll deal with you when I get back..." Hibari said goodbye to Mito, then turned his head to "threaten" little Tsunade.

Then, without waiting for little Tsunade to talk back, he used a Body Flicker technique and vanished cleanly.

Once Hibari's figure disappeared, Mito whispered to herself, "The third generation of fledglings from the Senju Clan... is it?"

She murmured a sentence, looked at the ignorant little Tsunade in her arms, and sighed softly again. "Little Tsunade... this title of 'Princess' is not called for nothing."

"There is no such thing as benefits falling from the sky... Our Senju Clan has also reached a critical moment."

"Grandma, what are you saying?" Little Tsunade bit her finger, knitted her small brows, and didn't understand at all.

Little Tsunade's voice pulled Mito out of her thoughts. She raised her hand to rub Tsunade's head and smiled. "Nothing. When people get old, they like to ponder useless things. You young ones are better off; you have no worries."

"Grandma isn't old," little Tsunade said happily. "You look about the same as my sister!"

"Hehe, is that so?" Mito was amused. "I like hearing that." She held little Tsunade and slowly turned to leave.

But her steps looked heavier than usual, as if something invisible was pressing down on the Senju residence.

The Hidden Leaf Village had only been built for a few years, and many things were not yet fully established.

For example, the iconic Hokage Rock of the future was currently just a pitted cliff. As for Ichiraku Ramen, there wasn't even a shadow of it.

The total population of the village was far from as prosperous as it would later become.

In the current Hidden Leaf, the people of various ninja clans lived in clusters, mixed with a small number of civilians. Because the ninja academy system hadn't been established yet, it was difficult for commoners to come into contact with the concept of "ninjutsu."

Living in the village, they mostly opened ramen stalls, sold snacks, or made clothes, relying on serving ninjas to make a living.

Among the civilians, if one occasionally had good luck and possessed great talent, and happened to be spotted by a ninja, they might be taken back to be trained as a seedling.

However, unless they met a particularly selfless teacher, commoner ninjas still couldn't get their hands on the true skills kept at the bottom of the clans' boxes.

This situation wasn't unique to the Hidden Leaf; the entire ninja world was about the same, and none of the five great nations could laugh at the others. It could be said that the current "class" solidification was quietly strangling the Hidden Leaf Village.

Of course, as a member of a top-tier powerhouse like the Senju, Hibari didn't need to worry about these messy things. On the contrary, he was a vested interest holder and didn't have to worry about not having ninjutsu to learn.

At the same time, Hibari was very clear that once his Second Lord officially took the seat of Hokage, reforms would definitely have to be rolled out. Being a Hokage and being a "clan head" were worlds apart. With the Second Lord's temperament, putting the village first was inevitable.

But as he walked, Hibari's footsteps suddenly paused, as if he had been tripped up by some thought.

"If I follow this line of reasoning..." He narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself, "If the Second Lord establishes a ninja academy and trains a large number of ninjas from the commoners, wouldn't that be equivalent to moving the cake of the current clans in the village? Even our Senju Clan would probably have to cut off a piece of meat..."

Before he could ponder this problem further, his shoulder was slapped hard, making him stagger and almost lose his footing.

"Hibari! You finally decided to leave the house?" A young man with an ordinary but somewhat handsome face stood behind him, teasing him happily. "What are you spacing out for? People are coming and going on the street, don't block the way."

Hibari turned his head, saw who it was, and smacked his lips with a lack of interest. "I wondered who it was... so it's brother Hiruzen."

That's right, this guy who looked less than thirty years old was Sarutobi Hiruzen, who would eventually take over the burden from the Second Lord Tobirama and become the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.

"What brother Hiruzen?" Sarutobi Hiruzen was unhappy the moment he heard it. "I'm more than a cycle older than you! According to the seniority of our two families, you should call me uncle!"

"Fine, fine, Uncle Hiruzen, happy now?" Hibari said helplessly. "Why do you insist on taking advantage of me? Let me tell you, I'm now officially training under the Second Lord. Strictly speaking, we should be fellow disciples."

"Hmm?" Sarutobi Hiruzen perked up when he heard this. "You're really training formally under Teacher Tobirama?"

"Of course," Hibari nodded as a matter of course. "You should have guessed I had this intention long ago. The Second Lord finally has some free time recently, so I have to catch up quickly. If I don't hurry, who knows when he'll be too busy to be seen again..."

"Hahaha! That's a good thing!" Sarutobi Hiruzen laughed loudly. "With you here, I'll be much more relaxed. Teacher Tobirama is truly relentless when it comes to putting people through their paces."

In fact, there was more than just Sarutobi Hiruzen under the Second Lord Tobirama; Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane were all disciples he had brought up himself.

However, in terms of aptitude, Sarutobi Hiruzen was indeed the top-tier one. Many people said he was even stronger than the Second Lord Tobirama was in his youth, and even the Second Lord himself seemed to tacitly agree with this in private.

Although this Sarutobi Hiruzen was not yet thirty, his strength was already a big name in the Hidden Leaf Village. He was proficient in all five elemental chakras, and there wasn't a single famous ninjutsu he couldn't perform.

What was even more rare was that after years of training by the Second Lord Tobirama, he had long since jumped out of the rut of "only knowing how to use it, not understanding the principle," and he understood the ins and outs of various ninjutsu like a mirror.

Because his foundation was solid, he was particularly good at combining different ninjutsu. Often, a few unremarkable C-rank ninjutsu, when combined by his hands, would produce an effect no worse than B-rank or A-rank.

Hibari knew clearly that this person was still young, and the title of "Professor of Ninjutsu" would sooner or later fall on his head.

With a genius like Sarutobi Hiruzen hovering in front, the likes of Danzo Shimura, who were by the Second Lord Tobirama's side, didn't seem as eye-catching. In fact, if you looked at them individually, who wasn't a top talent among their peers to be able to enter the Second Lord's personal guard?

But with a monster like Hiruzen in the team, it made people feel quite frustrated.

Coupled with the fact that their talent in delving into the mysteries of ninjutsu was indeed limited and they couldn't help the Second Lord much, the one who could truly inherit the Second Lord's mantle was Sarutobi Hiruzen.

It was no wonder Hiruzen was so happy to hear that Hibari was going to train under the Second Lord.

After all, being by the Second Lord's side was truly exhausting. Even if the Second Lord was a little more leisurely recently, he was still a high-level official of the Hidden Leaf with a mountain of official business.

He often waved his hand and threw all the trivial tasks of ninjutsu development to Hiruzen to ponder, while he only handled the bottlenecks. The result was that Hiruzen had to "assist" the Second Lord every three days, busy to the point of not touching the ground.

Now that a "junior brother" had suddenly appeared, and he knew Hibari's background, he naturally wished someone would come to share the burden.

"Don't worry, I'll try my best not to hold you back, I can always help a little." Hibari grinned. "But brother Hiruzen... wait, Uncle? Look, I'm officially hanging out with the Second Lord now, shouldn't we sort out this seniority?

To avoid embarrassment when we're out in the future. If you ask me, stop taking advantage of me. We're fellow disciples, I'll call you brother, that's fair enough, right?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen squinted at the slyly smiling Hibari and quickly replied, "Don't try that with me! How can seniority be so messy? Think about it, when you see my father, don't you have to call him grandfather?

So when you see me, shouldn't you call me uncle? Training is training, you follow Teacher Tobirama, but don't you still call him Second Lord? Can you change it to Second Uncle?

So, even if we are fellow disciples, you still have to call me Uncle Hiruzen!"

"Then I'll call you Grandpa Hiruzen." Hibari curled his lips. "Being young is really a disadvantage, I'm a generation lower than everyone I see... Does that mean I have to call everyone grandfather?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen laughed loudly and reached out to pat Hibari on the shoulder. "I understand that feeling! Who hasn't suffered through the grandson generation? This is the necessary path of growth, Hibari."

Hibari glanced at him, muttering in his heart: I walked this path long ago in my previous life.

However, he wasn't in the mood to continue arguing about seniority, so he asked, "Hiruzen, are you also going to find the Second Lord and the others?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen glared when he heard this. "Call me Uncle!"

Although he said that, he didn't really take it to heart.

In fact, he and Hibari were quite compatible, perhaps because although Hibari was young, his speech and actions were not like a child's, or perhaps because both were geniuses in the eyes of others, or perhaps Hibari was indeed very similar to him in some aspects.

In short, despite the generation gap, every time he saw Hibari, Hiruzen felt like he had met a friend of the same age.

"That's right." Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded readily. "My father sent a letter back, and there are things to report to the Hokage and Teacher Tobirama. I'm on my way to find them."