The Strange Fall of Uzushio Village

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I can't help it. You've snapped up nearly all the outstanding kids. Finding students who can keep pace with Minato won't be easy.

"Besides, I've never believed civilian ninja are destined to lag behind ninja from established families. What they lack are resources and opportunities."

Uchiha Yi pursed his lips at Jiraiya's words but said nothing.

For ordinary ninja and families, Jiraiya had a point. People like Jiraiya and Guy really had reached the limits of what an ordinary person could achieve.

Once Jiraiya entered Sage Mode, he was even stronger than the average Kage.

But most ninja could never reach that level, let alone the absurd heights of certain Uchiha and Senju.

Of course, without Indra's and Asura's Chakra, even the Senju and Uchiha might not have been much stronger than ordinary ninja.

Mid-sized families might look formidable, but much of their strength came from what they passed down. Even families with secret techniques faced real dangers. Jiraiya was confident he could train Minato Namikaze to rival their prodigies. Perhaps Minato could even catch up to Uchiha Yi.

If Uchiha Yi hadn't had an unfair advantage, Jiraiya might have been right. At his peak, Minato Namikaze could have won even against an opponent with the Mangekyō Sharingan.

But Uchiha Yi was no ordinary Uchiha. He was confident he could one day stand alongside Madara Uchiha—or even surpass him.

For most Uchiha, awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan was difficult enough. Obtaining the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was harder still.

But Uchiha Yi had the Battle Space. If he could fight a few more Uchiha there, obtaining the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan someday wasn't impossible.

If he kept improving his constitution, he might even gain a Mangekyō Sharingan that would never go blind, like Indra's. His Eye Power might rival the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan while his eyes were still at the Mangekyō stage.

"Shibi Aburame is quite strong, actually. Beating him would take some effort. Most people overlook him, but I think he's the trickiest student at school.

"And he has a good temperament. He'd make a dependable teammate," Uchiha Yi added out of the blue.

"Shibi Aburame? The Young Clan Head of the Aburame Clan?" Jiraiya blinked. He really had forgotten about Shibi Aburame. Why had he overlooked him?

Tsunade said pointedly, "The Aburame Clan is one of Konoha's major families, though they've always kept a low profile. They do make reliable teammates."

"Do they?" Jiraiya looked thoughtfully at Minato Namikaze. He wanted to train three civilian disciples, but finding Minato a few capable, compatible teammates would be good too.

Should I take a closer look at Shibi Aburame when I get back?

"Oh, right. There's a civilian ninja in our class named Kizashi Haruno," Nawaki added after hearing Uchiha Yi's recommendation. "His Chakra control is good, his fundamentals are solid, and he's always ranked first in our class in theory."

Nawaki couldn't understand why Jiraiya was so set on civilian ninja, but he could at least suggest a classmate.

"Kizashi Haruno? I'll remember the name." Jiraiya ruffled Nawaki's hair. He wasn't going to take anyone as a disciple just because Uchiha Yi or Nawaki recommended them. He would need to assess them himself.

Uchiha Yi, meanwhile, had a peculiar look on his face. He hadn't expected Nawaki to recommend Kizashi Haruno to Jiraiya.

In the Tsukuyomi World, Kizashi Haruno seemed to have become Hokage...

But that was only a world created by Genjutsu. Uchiha Yi remembered Kizashi Haruno as an ordinary Genin. He hadn't expected him to have solid fundamentals, good Chakra control, and the highest theory scores in his class.

So that was where Sakura Haruno had inherited those strengths.

"Oh, and Hyuga Hiashi didn't join our squad," Tsunade added. "Instead, we got a child from the Hyuga Main Family named Hyuga Rinka."

Orochimaru quickly worked out why and smiled wryly. "To protect their future Clan Leader? The Hyuga Clan never changes.

"They have an excellent legacy and a powerful bloodline, yet they've never produced a truly great fighter."

"That's not true," Mito Uzumaki said, contradicting Orochimaru. "The Hyuga Clan has faced crises several times, but they've always pulled through.

"The most recent was about a century ago, when they went to war with the Hagoromo Clan. The Hyuga were losing at first, but their Clan Leader unleashed tremendous power and killed many of the Hagoromo Clan's strongest fighters. He died not long after the war, but the strength he displayed should have surpassed the Kage level."

"What? Surpassed the Kage level?" Everyone turned to look at her.

None of them had expected the Hyuga Clan to have produced someone like that.

"I think I've heard of him. Was it Hyuga Tennin?" Uchiha Yi's mind was reeling. The Hyuga Clan might have made a mess of the Byakugan these days, but it was a powerful ability. Even setting aside the future Tenseigan, the original Byakugan was standard among the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

Compare Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's Byakugan with the Hyuga Clan's, and the decline was obvious. They had taken something powerful and reduced it to a pair of binoculars.

The Hyuga really are hopeless.

Still, the Hyuga Clan might have a way to create a temporary Tenseigan. The Clan Leader's death could well have been the backlash.

How could an ordinary ninja withstand the backlash of the Tenseigan?

Mito Uzumaki was surprised Uchiha Yi knew the name. "I didn't expect you to know about Hyuga Tennin.

"He was a legend even in my day.

"But how could a Family that has endured for a thousand years be ordinary?"

There was something Mito Uzumaki couldn't understand. The Uzumaki Clan also had a thousand-year history. Its combined strength was no match for the Five Great Nations, but it shouldn't have been wiped out so quickly.

Konoha hadn't even had time to send help.

And the Uzumaki Clan had a Trump Card. If pushed far enough, they could have taken several Kage from those villages down with them.

Yet from what she could see now, none of those villages' Kage had died. Something unforeseen might have happened to the Uzumaki Clan.

Kagami Uchiha's sacrifice only lent more weight to that possibility.

But who among the Ninja Villages could have pulled that off?