Setsuna, the New Darkness of the Ninja World?

Setsuna walked to a corner and began reading the scroll. A few minutes later, Hizashi arrived in the hall, his face full of thoughts. Might Guy waved vigorously. "Teacher Hizashi, over here."

Hizashi walked over and shook his head. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's fine, it's fine. We haven't been waiting long, anyway. Teacher Hizashi, shall we go take a mission now?" Although Might Guy had complained earlier that D-rank missions were boring, he was still very proactive when it came to action.

Hizashi noticed Setsuna in the corner and asked, "Setsuna is...?"

Might Guy answered, "Big Brother Setsuna is studying the Yin Seal scroll Lady Tsunade gave him. I'll go call him over right now."

"No need. I'll just wait here," Hizashi said hurriedly.

"Huh?" Might Guy looked confused. Was Teacher Hizashi really this easygoing?

He still remembered when he had first joined his previous team. Even the slightest mistake would get him scolded, let alone making the team leader wait for him.

After thinking for a while, Might Guy came to a conclusion. Teacher Hizashi really is a good person.

As Setsuna earnestly absorbed the knowledge from the scroll, Hizashi could not help but let his thoughts run wild again. Since the last Ninja World War, Lady Tsunade has rarely even involved herself in village affairs. Why would she suddenly give Setsuna a scroll, and one containing such an advanced ninjutsu as a sealing technique? Could this be a reward from the Hokage, delivered through Lady Tsunade?

Although he did not understand the ninjutsu known as the Yin Seal, there were almost no low-level sealing techniques. Even the most basic ones were B-rank ninjutsu, while slightly more advanced ones reached A-rank.

Right, I once heard that the department Elder Danzo controls places seals even on its own ninja. The Hokage has specially promoted Setsuna, had him kill Elder Danzo, and even bestowed a sealing technique upon him. Could he be planning to have Setsuna take over Elder Danzo's position and become the new "Darkness of the Ninja World"?

At that thought, a trace of awe entered Hizashi's gaze as he looked at Setsuna. The department controlled by Elder Danzo was highly secretive, but as a Jonin of the Hyuga Clan, he had still heard a little about it. It was a terrifying organization that hid in the darkness and manufactured death.

What attitude should I take toward him from now on? Hizashi considered it briefly before quickly reaching an answer. On the surface, I may be the team leader, but in reality, it would be better to let Setsuna call the shots.

It was a little cowardly, but he did not dare order around someone who could hold his life and death in his hands.

Ten minutes later, Setsuna had memorized the contents of the scroll and returned it. Only then did he belatedly notice, "Teacher Hizashi is already here? Guy, why didn't you wake me?"

"I told him not to," Hizashi said with a friendly smile. "After all, I was the one who was late. If everyone's ready, shall we go carry out the mission now?"

Might Guy asked, "Teacher Hizashi, haven't we still not accepted a mission?"

"There's no need to." Hizashi shook his head. "The reason I was late was because the village higher-ups had already assigned us a mission. All rookie teams are to repair the streets of East Tenth Street."

He then added in particular, "The mission reward is very generous—an entire eight hundred thousand ryo."

"Eight hundred thousand ryo!" Might Guy's eyes widened. The rewards from all the missions he had taken over the past two years might not even add up to that much.

Setsuna's expression turned somewhat strange. "Teacher Hizashi, may I ask which higher-up assigned it?"

Hizashi said, "Elder Danzo."

"So it was Elder Danzo." Setsuna smiled faintly. He could more or less guess Danzo's intentions. It was nothing more than an act of self-consolation, thinking this would help him regain some face.

Seeing the smile on Setsuna's face, Hizashi became even more convinced of his own guess.

The four arrived at East Tenth Street. The street had become a deep trench, as though some terrifying force had bulldozed straight through it, yet the houses on either side had not been affected.

Did he do this? Even while fighting Elder Danzo, he was able to spare attention to control his own power. Hizashi observed Setsuna from the corner of his eye, deeply astonished.

At the sight, Might Guy cried out, "Did an enemy invade yesterday? It was damaged this badly?"

He suddenly realized something and looked at Setsuna. "Big Brother Setsuna, don't you seem to live on this street?"

Setsuna nodded. "I do live here, but perhaps yesterday's training was too fulfilling. I slept very deeply after getting back, so I don't know what happened."

Others might have read more into that, but Might Guy wore a look of complete agreement. "Mm-hmm, I'm like that after training too."

Shizune asked, "Teacher Hizashi, how are we supposed to repair it? With Earth Release ninjutsu?"

Hizashi shook his head with a smile. "Leaving aside the fact that you haven't begun training in chakra nature transformation, even if you could use the five elemental releases, controlling ninjutsu well enough to level the street without causing secondary damage to the foundations of the surrounding houses would require at least Jonin-level chakra control."

Setsuna fell into thought. Could it be that Kakashi liked sculpting dog heads with his Earth Release because he was training his chakra control?

Hizashi continued, "The village isn't offering such a high mission reward so you can finish it with one or two Earth Release techniques. This street needs to be restored as perfectly as possible."

Before long, the remaining teams arrived one after another.

Looking at the massive pit stretching several hundred meters, Asuma Sarutobi could not help complaining, "I really don't know what the old man is thinking. The Jonin could repair this with just a few Earth Release techniques, yet he wants us to do it ourselves. What a waste of our time."

Not far away, Obito Uchiha strongly agreed. "Exactly, exactly. We should be taking missions to escort intelligence, wipe out bandits, and hunt rogue ninja. That's how we can grow."

Their gazes met, and they felt a certain kinship.

Asuma Sarutobi looked at Setsuna again. "Senior, you think so too, right?"

Setsuna smiled faintly. "To me, what mission I take isn't important. Every stretch of scenery is part of training."

"Huh?" Asuma Sarutobi was quite surprised. He had thought a training fanatic like Setsuna would surely agree with him, yet Setsuna was unexpectedly calm.

"Setsuna is absolutely right." Minato Namikaze, standing beside Obito Uchiha, smiled. "You could even say that the more D-rank missions you complete, the more outstanding you are."

Asuma Sarutobi curled his lip. "Orochimaru only carried out sixteen D-rank missions, and he still became one of the Sannin."

"That's precisely why Orochimaru has grown increasingly distant from the grassroots. Sometimes, even I can't see through him." The Third Hokage gently shook his head as he observed them remotely from the Hokage's office using the Telescope Technique.

After sighing for a while, the Third Hokage looked at Setsuna in the image and nodded slightly.

When he had heard Danzo say yesterday that Setsuna was too extreme, he had been somewhat worried about Setsuna's temperament. After all, Danzo himself was already extremely extreme.

Now, it seemed that had been nothing but Danzo's groundless speculation. Setsuna's state of mind undoubtedly surpassed that of most ninja.