The Scapegoat King Takes Action

Spring had arrived, and the Ninja Academy had begun its new term...

He was nearly seven years old, and the night of the Uchiha massacre was drawing closer.

Even a child like him had heard some troubling rumors, mostly about the Police Force's brutal law enforcement, which had even resulted in casualties.

Those rumors had never stopped since he killed those three troublemakers last time. He had not expected that wave of public backlash to continue until now and be brought up again because of the murder case.

He could be certain this murder had nothing to do with him. He had not acted at all. It had to be that old schemer Danzo copying his methods and framing the Uchiha, making the public outcry even fiercer. Naturally, the goal was to smear the Uchiha and build momentum for their extermination.

Once the Uchiha's evil had sunk deep into people's hearts, once they were rotten to the core, even if the Uchiha were wiped out until only one remained, no one would care. After all, the blade was not at their own throats. Other people would not feel the pain.

The new term had just begun, and he saw Uchiha Sasuke's sour face again. It was probably related to the recent rumors, or perhaps the guy had never accepted his defeat. Even now, he had never given Lin Chuan a pleasant look, wearing that smug face all day long.

Lin Chuan did not care. They were all just bratty little brothers. Once this bratty little brother's clan was exterminated and he no longer had an older brother, Lin Chuan could bully him properly. He would beat the brat until he called him Daddy. Just thinking about it felt wonderful. He would not stop until that face was swollen. Then he would see who still said Sasuke was handsome.

As the class bell rang, Iruka came to teach as usual. Naruto still could not understand anything and slept through class. Shikamaru lazily spun his pen. Choji secretly snacked. Sakura Haruno secretly watched Sasuke and occasionally glared at Ino. The others sometimes tossed paper balls around.

Whenever Iruka covered ninja-related lessons that interested Lin Chuan, he would settle down and listen. As for knowledge he already knew from his previous life, he could not be bothered to listen. They were elementary school lessons, after all, and there was nothing worth hearing.

Lin Chuan continued practicing chakra control. Sticking chakra to the soles of his feet to climb trees and walk on water was merely basic chakra control training.

Ninjas could also release chakra from specific parts of their bodies, finely controlling its shape, movement, and density, altering the way chakra flowed and its form.

Condensing chakra into threads, blades, or spheres involved complex chakra shape transformations and counted as advanced chakra control training.

There was even more advanced chakra control training: adding chakra nature transformation on top of chakra shape transformation, such as Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

In the classroom, he would condense chakra into thin blades and maintain their fixed shape for a period of time, using the chakra blades for wood carving. Sometimes, both hands would simultaneously shape two different chakra forms, training his ability to control chakra on multiple threads.

He tried practicing anything involving complex chakra shape transformations.

The morning classes soon passed. After lunch, it was time to skip class again. Iruka had already gone numb when it came to Lin Chuan skipping class.

Normally, if the afternoon lessons were more unusual, Iruka would remind Lin Chuan, and Lin Chuan would generally stay for class. But if they were merely basic training—running, throwing kunai, playing ball, or ninja games—then whenever Iruka said nothing, Lin Chuan would definitely skip class.

Iruka had been right. On the first day of the new term, Lin Chuan skipped class again.

This time, Lin Chuan did not go to the training grounds. Instead, he went to the river to practice Water Dragon Bullet. After an entire winter of practice, he had gotten the hang of both Water Formation Wall and Water Dragon Bullet.

[Ninjutsu]

[Water Release Ninjutsu]

[C-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Clone (Genin: 104/1000)]

[C-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Shock Wave (Genin: 102/1000)]

[B-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Formation Wall (Beginner: 2/10)]

[B-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet (Beginner: 1/10)]

Water Formation Wall was manageable enough, since it did not require many hand seals. But Water Dragon Bullet's forty-four seals had held him back for a full two months. He had only learned to use Water Dragon Bullet last week, and he had cast one by the river.

He summoned a water dragon from the river, which directly smashed through the second large tree he had been training on. When he saw the trunk snap apart, he was utterly stunned. B-rank ninjutsu truly was different from C-rank ninjutsu. It had taken half a year of blasting the first tree with Water Shock Wave to break it, but the second tree had fallen to a single Water Dragon Bullet.

All he could say was that B-rank ninjutsu was incredible. If B-rank ninjutsu was already this powerful, he truly did not know what kind of might A-rank and S-rank ninjutsu possessed.

Unfortunately, his chakra reserves were too low. Even if this body became a Chunin and learned A-rank ninjutsu, using an A-rank ninjutsu twice would drain him dry. Using it a third time would make him faint, and might even risk death.

Even B-rank ninjutsu could not be used too often, much less A-rank ninjutsu. He could only suppress the restlessness in his heart. His top priority now was to find Maruboshi Kosuke and take him as his master. Considering that Maruboshi Kosuke was an approachable Genin, he could find a time to have his cheap dad invite Maruboshi Kosuke over as a guest.

Once Maruboshi Kosuke came to the house, Lin Chuan could take the opportunity to show off Water Dragon Bullet. With the older generation's fondness for talent and their desire to nurture promising youngsters, Maruboshi Kosuke might teach him the Simplified Water Dragon Bullet. Then he could take the opportunity to become Maruboshi Kosuke's disciple.

As for how his cheap dad would invite Maruboshi Kosuke home, that was his cheap dad's problem. Lin Chuan had asked him before, and his cheap dad had told him they had completed missions together in their youth and had some friendship.

That was not strange at all. Maruboshi Kosuke was the Mission Department's permanent Genin NPC, often teaming up with Chunin and Genin for missions. Lin Chuan's cheap dad happened to be a Chunin, so it was perfectly normal for them to have done missions together.

Furthermore, his cheap dad worked in the Mission Department. When facing Maruboshi Kosuke, who came to accept missions, the two had renewed their former comrade-like relationship. His cheap dad had even assured him that the two of them were as close as brothers.

Still, Lin Chuan was somewhat uneasy. After practicing Water Dragon Bullet once by the river, his chakra was nearly depleted, so he headed for the Mission Department where his cheap dad worked. He had often come during the previous winter break, so many people recognized him. He had also become the kind of child adults used to lecture their own unmotivated children.

"Little Chuan is here! Looking for your dad again, right? He's in the mission records room!"

"Little Chuan got first place again, didn't he? First place every time. That's amazing!"

"If my brat had even half of Little Chuan's ability, I'd be able to sleep peacefully..."

"Thank you, uncles," Lin Chuan said, gladly accepting the praise from the many elders one by one, while putting on a humble expression.

It could not be helped. He had earned all this through hard work. After grinding so hard for so long, could he not enjoy it a little?

"This child is so sensible, so well-behaved..."

"Sigh, my brat doesn't even know to greet people when he sees them..."

However, these parents had not realized one thing yet: the well-behaved child they were praising had come here by skipping class. What kind of good child skipped class?

After bidding farewell to the older generation in the mission hall, Lin Chuan found his cheap dad in the mission records room. Missions issued by the Mission Department had to be organized and archived for future reference, and they could also provide ninjas heading to the same area with relevant local information.

"Little Chuan, why are you here?" Lin Chuan's father sat behind his desk. The door was not closed, so the moment he looked up, he saw Lin Chuan poking his head out from behind it.

He could only put down his work and go outside to find an empty corner. Then he asked Lin Chuan, "Little Chuan, did you come for something?"

"Dad, I learned Water Dragon Bullet! When you see Grandpa Maruboshi Kosuke, invite him to our house," Lin Chuan said, looking up at his cheap dad and stating the purpose of his visit.

"As expected of my son, learning a B-rank ninjutsu so quickly." Hearing that Lin Chuan had learned Water Dragon Bullet, his father's lips curled upward. But since they were in Hokage Tower, he restrained himself from laughing aloud. His genius son gave him great face before his colleagues. Learning Water Dragon Bullet was indeed worth celebrating.

"Little Chuan, Senior Kosuke just left on a mission. If you want to invite him over, you'll probably have to wait a while..."

"That's fine. There's still time." Hearing that Maruboshi Kosuke had already gone on a mission, Lin Chuan's furrowed brow relaxed again. He had only come to inform his dad. Since Maruboshi Kosuke was away, he could continue practicing Water Dragon Bullet for a while longer.

For the upcoming period, he would devote all his ninjutsu practice time to Water Dragon Bullet. He would even stop practicing Body Flicker Technique and Water Shock Wave, dedicating all his chakra to Water Dragon Bullet.

"Probably ten days to half a month. I'll invite him to our house then. You can perform well. I'll get back to work now." Lin Chuan's father lightly patted him before turning around and returning to work.

He knew perfectly well what his strong-minded son wanted to do. His son had taken the initiative in bringing up the matter of finding a master, and they had already discussed it. Even if he could not become Maruboshi Kosuke's disciple, he still had to learn the Simplified Water Dragon Bullet from him.

When he had teamed up with Maruboshi Kosuke, he had seen Maruboshi Kosuke use the Simplified Water Dragon Bullet, as well as the other man's elusive genjutsu swordsmanship. He did not believe that was swordsmanship an ordinary Genin could master.

During a picnic once, someone had casually asked about it, and only then had they learned that Maruboshi Kosuke had studied ninjutsu under the Second Hokage. Combined with his remarkable strength, no ninja who had teamed up with him for missions treated him as a mere Genin.

Judging from the strength he could unleash, he was already comparable to certain Jonin. If one merely teamed up with him for low-level missions, there would be no danger to one's life at all. Most ninjas had been saved by him, naturally including Lin Chuan's father. That was a life-saving debt, and he had always remembered it.

Watching his cheap dad return to work, Lin Chuan left the Mission Department. He did not want to run into Danzo here. Root was not a place normal people could stay. That place was far too oppressive.

But he still did not know whether Danzo had set his sights on the little genius. It was not something a genius's will could decide. Once the darkness of the ninja world locked onto a little genius, he was like a lamb holding a torch in a dark forest, destined to be unable to escape unless he defected from the village.

However, Danzo currently had no energy to spare for a child. Those were matters for his subordinates. He still had the more urgent matter of the Uchiha to deal with, along with an armful of Sharingan to collect and Hashirama Cells to transplant. He was not far from obtaining the technique he wanted.