A Teacher's Guidance

Beneath Konoha, within a hollowed-out space, numerous buildings had been constructed against the rock walls, connected to countless underground passages leading who knew where.

This was the headquarters of Konoha Root.

In the Root Leader's office, Danzo was reviewing a dossier his subordinates had just compiled. He stared coldly at the person in the photograph at the upper right corner and said with great displeasure, "No wonder Hiruzen suddenly changed his tune. So it was because of this child."

As The Dark Side of Konoha, he did his utmost to learn of anything happening inside or outside the village as quickly as possible.

He even occasionally paid attention to children fooling around.

As for matters concerning the Uchiha Clan, no matter how trivial, he made sure to look into them.

The Uchiha were a clan that had to be watched closely. Danzo always kept his teacher's earnest teachings in mind.

Thus, news that Chizuru Uchiha, a genius of the Uchiha Clan, had been defeated by an unknown orphan from the Orphanage quickly reached Danzo's ears.

Danzo had interacted with members of the Uchiha Clan since childhood and knew full well how frightening they were. He, too, had been a genius his family had placed great hopes upon when he was young, yet when facing Kagami Uchiha, who was even younger than him, all he could do was get beaten senseless.

Though he had been unwilling to accept it, the Uchiha Clan's strength had to be acknowledged.

Therefore, he understood very clearly how difficult it was for someone of the same age to defeat an Uchiha, let alone Chizuru Uchiha, who had awakened the Sharingan and received the Uchiha Clan's focused training a year ago.

In his view, it should have been an impossible task for Kirito, an orphan from the Orphanage, to defeat Chizuru Uchiha.

But that only showed that Kirito's talent was absolutely no less than Chizuru Uchiha's, perhaps even far greater.

He had already ordered a thorough investigation into Kirito. It revealed no issues with Kirito's background, but it also uncovered that Kirito had suffered a serious illness a month and a half ago, after which he began to change.

According to the relevant specialists, Kirito's ancestors might have included a ninja with a powerful Kekkei Genkai. The reason he had fallen seriously ill was likely due to his bloodline awakening.

"What a pity. If I'd made my request to Hiruzen sooner, that excellent chess piece would have been mine."

Danzo sighed, his voice filled with deep regret.

As expected, his good brother Hiruzen had surely already placed Kirito under strict protection and would never give him a chance to lay his hands on the boy.

However, never giving up was one of Danzo's strengths. He stared intently at Kirito's portrait and smiled grimly. "I still have a chance. As long as darkness exists in that child's heart, he will come looking for me sooner or later. Only I can give him everything he wants. Hiruzen, you will regret this."

At the same time, the Third Hokage, who was staying up late processing documents in the Hokage's Office, suddenly had the urge to say, "I'm the Hokage."

But his good brother Danzo was not there to play along, and the Third Hokage immediately found it dull, swallowing the words back down.

Then, looking at the documents on his desk that seemed as though they would never be finished, the wrinkles on his face deepened. He could not help but let out a long sigh, revealing his profound exhaustion.

Ever since the war had begun, he had stayed up late like this nearly every day. He practically lived here now.

Come to think of it, he had not gone outside for almost a month.

The Third Hokage rose, stretched, then walked to the window with his pipe in hand. As he smoked, he looked out at the village, which was far more desolate than it had been before the war.

Before the war began, the village would still have been quite lively at this hour. Even from here, he could often hear the cheerful noise coming from Commercial Street.

Unfortunately, he had not heard that joyful sound at this hour for a long time.

He truly wished he could hear it again soon.

The Third Hokage's expression abruptly turned solemn. He slightly turned his head and looked at an Anbu ninja who had just appeared.

"Third Hokage-sama, a message has arrived from the border."

The Anbu ninja spoke, respectfully presenting a sealed scroll with both hands.

"Good work."

Hearing this, the Third Hokage immediately took the scroll and opened it to read.

"That damn shorty, always taking advantage when the fire's burning. Deliver my order: send one thousand reserve ninja—no, two thousand—to reinforce the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass."

After reading the scroll, the Third Hokage's brows shot up as he spoke angrily.

"Yes."

The Anbu ninja accepted the order and quickly departed using the Body Flicker Technique.

"These truly are troubled times. Konoha is already struggling greatly fighting on two fronts, and now the Iwa ninja are beginning to stir as well. Teacher, the burden you left me is truly too heavy."

Once the Anbu ninja had left, the Third Hokage's face filled with worry.

Now that another two thousand ninja had been sent to reinforce the border, the village's defensive forces had become even weaker. He could only hope nothing unexpected happened because of it.

"Buds of Konoha, grow up soon."

The Third Hokage returned to his chair and took out a stack of approved enrollment applications from a drawer. He began reviewing them one by one again, eventually pulling out twelve of them and sighing.

The older generation of Konoha ninja had nearly withered away, while those of his own generation had suffered devastating casualties in the previous great war. Among the new generation, aside from his three disciples and a few ninja from small Ninja Clans, there was little worth noting.

Overall, aside from the Uchiha Clan, the strength of Konoha's major Ninja Clans was declining. It had been a long time since any truly powerful ninja capable of standing on their own had emerged.

If this continued, what would become of Konoha's future?

"Was my choice wrong?"

The Third Hokage could not help reflecting on the policy he had carried out since taking office: suppressing Ninja Clans while supporting civilians.

Before long, his gaze became firm once more.

He was not wrong, because his teacher's choice could not be wrong.

He would continue carrying out his teacher's will.

Once the Ninja Clans became too powerful, they would inevitably threaten the Hokage's position, undermine the Hokage's rule, and plunge the village into crisis. Just like the Uchiha now, they had become a hidden danger to the village because they had grown too powerful to control.

"Uchiha, when will you understand the First Hokage's will? Why have you always refused to take the initiative to integrate into the village?"

Thinking of the Uchiha, the Third Hokage felt both regret and apprehension.

Meanwhile, on Kirito's way back to the Orphanage, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. Once he recognized the man's face, he immediately took several wary steps back, swiftly pulling a small knife from his pocket and concealing it in his hand.

The person who had suddenly appeared was Kari Uchiha, the middle-aged man Kirito had seen protecting Chizuru Uchiha that afternoon.

"Mister, what do you need? Oh, right, is that what's-her-name okay?"

Kirito gave Kari Uchiha an innocent smile and asked cautiously.

"Chizuru. Chizuru Uchiha. That is the young lady's name. Remember it well, Kirito Tonsaka. Also, this is the Challenge Letter Lady Chizuru has issued to you. Accept it."

Kari Uchiha said with a slight frown.

As soon as he finished speaking, he threw something, sending it flying toward Kirito at high speed.

It moved so quickly that Kirito nearly failed to see it with his current eyesight, but he still managed to catch it. It was a small scroll.

After catching it, Kirito was about to refuse, but Kari Uchiha had already formed a hand seal and vanished in a puff of smoke. Clearly, only a Shadow Clone had come.

At the same time, another scroll appeared on the ground.

"The Uchiha really are nothing but overbearing lunatics. I haven't even agreed yet."

Seeing Kari Uchiha force him to accept the Challenge Letter before immediately leaving, Kirito complained, suddenly feeling irritated.

He was beginning to understand why so many people in the village hated the Uchiha. One person like this was already annoying enough—how annoying would a whole group of them be?

Character determined fate. The Uchiha had long since planted the seeds of their clan's destruction.

After the Warring States era ended, any Ninja Clan unable to integrate into the collective was destined to become dust, swept into history's garbage bin.

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