The Changing Winds

"Mito-sama has made her move. Looks like there's no chance now."

From the raised platform on the school field, the Third Hokage watched Mito and Kirito speaking in the distance and sighed.

As one of the village's higher-ups, he naturally viewed things differently from most people. To ordinary people, Mito's offer to teach Kirito Sealing Jutsu was simply a sign that she cherished and wanted to support a junior. But to him, it meant that the Senju Clan had recruited a civilian genius.

Barring any surprises, his prized disciple Tsunade would gain an outstanding subordinate in the future, giving her more assets to rely on when she succeeded to the Hokage Position. Nawaki, that not-so-bright child, would also gain an excellent companion.

The Third Hokage had long known that Chizuru Uchiha had suffered another defeat.

That was why he had wanted to bring Kirito under his wing from the start, and Kirito entering the Ninja Academy had been a good opportunity.

When the time came, he could contact several of his direct subordinates planted in the academy and have them subtly guide Kirito into inheriting the Will of Fire and following the path of protecting the village.

Unfortunately, he had not expected Mito to act at this time.

It was a killing blow.

There was nothing he could do but watch. After all, even he could only call himself a junior before Mito and did not dare make any offensive move.

Of course, the most important reason was that he could not beat Mito.

Though they had never truly fought, he knew the difference between them. Mito's unfathomably deep Chakra alone was enough to extinguish any desire he had to challenge her.

The Third Hokage was far from the only one deeply shaken by Mito taking Kirito as her disciple. Many members of the ninja clans present had also caught wind of something unusual.

Was the Senju Clan, after remaining silent for so long, finally going to make its voice heard again?

Those who filled in the blanks themselves all had different thoughts.

In a deserted corner of the field, a group standing apart from the crowd looked at everyone else with arrogant eyes. They were the distinctive Uchiha.

Among them, Chizuru Uchiha had her lips pressed tightly together, her face full of unwillingness.

If one were to ask who the strongest female ninja in the village was now, it would undoubtedly be Mito Uzumaki, the First Hokage's wife, who was still alive. She might even be the strongest female ninja in the entire Shinobi World.

Like most Uchiha, Chizuru hated the Senju, but that did not prevent her from admiring and respecting Mito, Konoha's strongest female ninja.

And now, the person she admired and respected had taken her opponent as a disciple. It left her with an unbearable sense of disillusionment and betrayal.

Her Sharingan opened of its own accord, the tomoe within spinning rapidly.

"Slap~"

A withered, large hand came to rest on Chizuru's shoulder.

Chizuru immediately came back to her senses. Her Sharingan closed, and she coldly looked at the person who had just reminded her—her grandfather, Homura Uchiha.

"Are you afraid?"

Homura Uchiha asked expressionlessly.

"Shut up. I'll definitely defeat him."

Chizuru Uchiha immediately opened her Sharingan again and glared furiously at Homura Uchiha.

Afraid?

She, Chizuru Uchiha, would never be. Kirito was nothing more than a whetstone for her blade. She was destined to surpass him someday.

"I hope so."

Homura Uchiha said mockingly.

Hearing the ridicule in Homura Uchiha's voice, Chizuru could not help clenching her fists tightly. But this time, she said nothing. She lowered her head slightly and silently endured the piercingly mocking looks in Homura Uchiha's eyes and those of the other clan members around her.

If she lost, she had to honestly accept her punishment.

Those hateful looks trampling over her dignity were her punishment.

"I want to learn Sealing Jutsu too. I want to learn the best Sealing Jutsu."

Chizuru suddenly raised her head and stared intently at Homura Uchiha.

At those words, Homura Uchiha fell silent, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

Kirito had naturally been more than willing to have Mito teach him Sealing Jutsu, and he agreed without hesitation. At the moment, he felt both shocked and delighted, along with a trace of lingering fear.

In truth, he had been secretly learning Sealing Jutsu through Nawaki this entire time.

However, he had not initiated it. Nawaki had pushed the whole thing himself, because Mito assigned Nawaki Sealing Jutsu homework every day. Nawaki could not do it, and then he noticed Kirito reading books on Sealing Jutsu in the library, so he took out his homework for Kirito to look at.

He claimed it was to test Kirito's Sealing Jutsu.

In reality, the Sealing Jutsu homework Mito assigned Nawaki was not difficult. It was all basic knowledge of Sealing Jutsu. With Kirito's Intelligence of Wisdom 3, it was not hard for him to solve, but this basic knowledge of Sealing Jutsu benefited him immensely.

That was because Mito had already organized the foundational knowledge of Sealing Jutsu into a complete system.

Its sophistication far surpassed the content of the Sealing Jutsu books he had read in the library.

Most importantly, through systematic study, he gradually learned multiple ways to construct Sealing Jutsu and remove seals.

Over the past month, Kirito had greatly improved his Sealing Jutsu by helping Nawaki with his homework. He had already learned two basic Sealing Jutsu: First-level Sealing and Double Sealing.

But from the looks of it, Mito had long since noticed that he was secretly learning Sealing Jutsu.

Fortunately, Mito was broad-minded and did not hold it against him.

After taking Kirito on as her disciple, Mito was delighted and dragged Nawaki away with her.

Quick on the uptake, Kirito followed after them and deftly took over the task of leading Nawaki along for Mito.

When Heizo Yamazaki and Taiga Noda saw Kirito follow them, they immediately looked at each other in bewilderment, unsure what to do.

The two of them had matured early, so they understood perfectly well that Mito only appreciated Kirito. Moreover, they did not even have the status of being Nawaki's friends, so they did not dare follow along casually.

Besides, Mito had just been far too brutal. The two of them were a little afraid of her now.

Seeing this, Kirito tilted his head at them, signaling for them to follow.

Mito was so kind and approachable—how could she possibly hold anything against two children?

Seeing that, the two could only gather their courage and follow, feeling a little excited inside.

Once Mito had taken her place, the other parents also led their children into orderly formation on the training ground. Then the Third Hokage began delivering the same congratulatory speech as last year. What followed was the usual old tune: saying as many nice things as possible while deliberately promoting the Will of Fire.

Since Mito was present, and in consideration of this elderly young lady's feelings, the Third Hokage wisely refrained from giving his usual long-winded speech and wrapped it up quickly.

The welcoming ceremony for the new students thus came to an end.

"Nawaki, little Kirito, and you two little ones—once you're inside the Ninja Academy, make sure to study hard. Oh, right, little Kirito, remember to keep an eye on Nawaki for me. Don't let him slack off in class or cause trouble for me."

After the Third Hokage finished speaking, Mito gently addressed Kirito and the others.

"Yes."

Kirito and the other two boys answered obediently. Only Nawaki muttered in dissatisfaction, "What the heck? Why am I the only one getting lectured?"

He felt like he was being singled out.

But there was nothing he could do about it. His good brothers had become his grandmother's lackeys, so his days at the Ninja Academy definitely would not be easy from now on.

He had thought that once he got to the Ninja Academy, he would escape his grandmother's clutches. Apparently, he had been far too naive.

Damn it!

"Hmm~"

Mito smiled sweetly at Nawaki.

"Yes!"

Nawaki immediately snapped to attention and shouted.

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