I'm the Hokage

"Damn, this girl's pretty strong."

Kirito cursed under his breath as he watched the massive fireball race toward him.

The next instant, he concentrated a large portion of his meager Natural Energy into his feet. He erupted with speed far beyond his normal limits, dodged the black-haired girl's Great Fireball Technique, and then charged at her like a gale.

At the same time, his expression changed. His eyes became fierce.

Natural Energy could not only nourish the body; it could also be used in battle like Chakra. Just like Chakra, concentrating Natural Energy in the limbs could briefly unleash strength and speed beyond the body's normal limits.

This burst was far stronger than concentrating Chakra in the limbs.

Kirito did not have much Natural Energy in his body, only a tiny amount, so this temporary enhancement could only last for a very short time.

Therefore, whenever he used Natural Energy, it meant he was going all out.

The black-haired girl was startled by the speed Kirito suddenly unleashed. She had only seen such speed from the Chunin of her clan.

In an instant, she concentrated Chakra into her eyes. The tomoe in her Sharingan spun rapidly as she used them to track Kirito's movements.

She managed to see him and raised her right hand to block the Chakra-coated fist he threw at her.

But the force behind Kirito's punch made her small face flush red.

A faint cracking sound rang out.

It was the sound of bone fracturing.

The intense pain made the black-haired girl let out a muffled groan.

In the end, Kirito's punch sent the black-haired girl flying backward. Her feet carved two deep trails across the ground before she clutched her injured right hand with her left.

"Not fighting anymore?"

Kirito shook his fist and smiled.

However, he was not looking at the black-haired girl. His gaze was fixed on a middle-aged man standing atop a nearby tree.

It was not as though he had lacked the opportunity to press his advantage. But just as he was about to continue his pursuit, this middle-aged man had suddenly appeared.

As expected, if he got any closer, this middle-aged man—who was clearly protecting the black-haired girl in secret—would make his move.

"Hmph, meddling busybody."

The black-haired girl turned to glare at the middle-aged man who had appeared, speaking with dissatisfaction.

"Miss, time is up. Please return."

The middle-aged man looked at the black-haired girl with affectionate eyes.

"Shut up! I'm not done fighting yet! I have to defeat him today!"

Chizuru Uchiha shouted angrily.

After saying that, she continued staring at Kirito with her Sharingan, her eyes brimming with fighting spirit as she prepared to attack again.

But then she suddenly found her vision blurring. Her eyes returned to normal, her body went limp, and she collapsed unconscious onto the ground.

"I—I didn't do anything."

Seeing the black-haired girl suddenly collapse, Kirito hurriedly defended himself to the middle-aged man.

In response, the middle-aged man merely gave him a deep look before quickly arriving at Chizuru Uchiha's side, picking her up, and swiftly leaving.

"What was that about?"

Kirito scratched his head, unable to understand why Chizuru Uchiha had collapsed.

Hope she wasn't trying to scam me.

"It was probably excessive Chakra consumption."

At that moment, Shikaku's voice came from behind Kirito.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's Office, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, looked at the crystal ball before him and said softly, "Excessive Chakra consumption."

Taking advantage of a rare lull in his work, he had used the Scrying Jutsu to observe the village and relax a little. To his surprise, he had happened upon an interesting battle.

"To freely activate and use the Sharingan at only six years old, and even perform Fire Release Ninjutsu... The Uchiha Clan has produced another extraordinary genius. What a frightening clan."

The Third Hokage took a drag from his pipe, his expression grave.

He roughly understood Chizuru Uchiha's situation. Both her parents had been heroes of the village. They had died for Konoha when Chizuru was five years old, after which she had awakened the Sharingan and become a key member of the Uchiha Clan's next generation.

Awakening her eyes before the age of six spoke for itself regarding her talent.

He had not expected her to have grown so outstandingly in just one year.

Judging from her skills, she already possessed the strength of a Genin and was fully qualified to graduate from the Ninja Academy.

Yet according to what he knew, the Uchiha Clan had still chosen to send her to the Ninja Academy.

"Still unwilling to give up, are they?"

The Third Hokage sighed.

He more or less understood why the Uchiha Clan had sent Chizuru Uchiha to the Ninja Academy. One reason was to give her a stable environment and time to continue growing. The other was to let her display the Uchiha Clan's strength at the academy and emphasize the clan's presence.

Ever since the Second Hokage's death, the village's suppression of the Uchiha Clan had become increasingly severe. They had been excluded from the upper ranks, and their presence within the village had steadily diminished.

Of course, the Third Hokage knew all this. Though unwilling, believing that the Uchiha Clan was also part of the village and should be treated fairly, the other Ninja Clans and the Civilian Faction's ninja all held deep grievances against the Uchiha Clan.

For the sake of balance, he had no choice but to make certain choices against his own wishes.

Bang!

The office doors were thrown open roughly.

The Third Hokage immediately looked toward the doorway and saw a familiar figure: a middle-aged man emanating a cold, gloomy aura. It was his old friend and fellow elder advisor, Shimura Danzō.

He waved to the apologetic guards, signaling for them to leave, then said to Danzō, "Danzō, what is it?"

Danzō went straight to the point. "Hiruzen, Root needs reinforcements."

"Danzō, you know that our battles with the Rain ninja and Sand ninja are at a critical stage. Personnel on the battlefield are already stretched thin, and the village's defensive forces are severely depleted. We cannot spare anyone to reinforce you at the moment."

The Third Hokage rejected Danzō's request without hesitation.

The Root under Danzō's command had already become quite formidable and was beginning to threaten the Anbu. He would never allow Root to continue expanding. Even though Root's contributions on the battlefield had been quite good, his decision would not be easily changed.

How could Danzō possibly be unaware of the village's manpower reserves? He understood that Hiruzen's words were merely an excuse.

Therefore, he absolutely would not yield on the matter of reinforcements. He immediately said coldly, "Hmph. Root's contributions to the village are obvious to all. Root has now suffered losses for the village and must be replenished as soon as possible. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee that the intelligence work on the front lines will proceed smoothly."

The Third Hokage fell silent at those words.

Konoha's advantage on the main battlefield currently depended heavily on the intelligence gathered by the Root led by Danzō. If the intelligence was lacking, the situation on the battlefield might reverse.

At that point, Konoha would pay a tremendous price.

Even knowing full well that Danzō was threatening him, the Third Hokage had no choice but to consider the matter carefully.

However, he also knew how powerful Root had become. To prevent Danzō, this blade, from going out of control and threatening him, he maintained his stance. "Like I said, the village does not have enough personnel to reinforce you for the time being."

Then he added, "If you have the ability, you can try looking among the village's major Ninja Clans."

Aside from ninja who graduated from the Ninja Academy, a considerable number of ninja were not under the Hokage's management at all. They were clan ninja trained internally by the major Ninja Clans.

By telling Danzō to recruit from the major Ninja Clans, he intended to use Danzō to test the attitudes of those clans.

"Hmph. Those people, who see only their clans and not the village, are not worth expecting anything from."

Danzō saw through the Third Hokage's intentions at once and spoke with a dark expression.

"Then there is nothing I can do."

The Third Hokage began showing him out.

Seeing that the Third Hokage was determined not to give him any personnel this time, Danzō's gaze grew even colder as he stared at him.

But the Third Hokage acted as though he did not see it and did not care. He calmly smoked his pipe while looking through documents he had not yet had time to read.

"Then give me the brats from the Orphanage."

After a while, Danzō had no choice but to settle for second best.

At those words, the Third Hokage set down several Ninja Academy enrollment applications and refocused his attention on Danzō, weighing the pros and cons in his heart.

The orphans in the Orphanage were truly people with no one to rely on. In the village, they were like weeds, ignored by everyone. When the Third Hokage first heard that Danzō wanted the Orphanage's children, he had not cared much. Yet at that moment, Kirito's figure flashed through his mind.

By coincidence, one of the enrollment applications he had just seen belonged to Kirito Tonsaka, and through it, he learned that Kirito was an orphan from the Orphanage.

Kirito's battle with Chizuru Uchiha had just left a deep impression on him. He had originally intended to have someone investigate which family had produced such a genius, so he could nurture him properly in the future and raise another outstanding ninja for the village.

But he had never expected Kirito to be an orphan from the Orphanage.

Yet because of that, the Third Hokage's expectations for Kirito became even greater. He knew very well how exceptional the ninja talent displayed by an orphan with no one to rely on, who could fight Chizuru Uchiha and gain the upper hand, truly was. He saw tremendous potential in Kirito.

And now, Danzō wanted to get his hands on the Orphanage's children. Would that not mean Kirito would fall into Danzō's hands?

No. Why has this man suddenly set his sights on the Orphanage's children? They're all brats with no combat ability. Even if they joined Root, they would be of little use. Could his real purpose be...

The Third Hokage suddenly thought of an important possibility and began putting the pieces together.

He quickly reached a conclusion: he absolutely could not allow Kirito to fall into Danzō's hands. Otherwise, Kirito might one day become Danzō's right-hand man.

With that thought, the Third Hokage no longer hesitated and firmly refused. "The orphans living in the Orphanage are very important young sprouts of the village. Let them continue growing up happily under the protection of people like us. That is also what the First Hokage and the Second Hokage would have wished to see."

Seeing his request rejected again, Danzō immediately became furious and shouted, "You will regret this, Hiruzen!"

"I am the Hokage."

The Third Hokage immediately stood up and said with a stern face.

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