"All right, Qingyun, stop scaring my little brother. Asuma, show Qingyun some respect. He's an incredibly powerful ninja!"
Shinnosuke Sarutobi pulled Asuma Sarutobi out from behind him with an exasperated look and spoke to him.
"Hmph! One day, I'll become an even stronger ninja than him!"
Asuma Sarutobi looked thoroughly unconvinced.
Hearing his words, Shinnosuke Sarutobi shook his head with a wry smile. Those who didn't know Qingyun would never understand just how terrifying he was. In only a few short years, he had grown from a rookie fresh out of the Ninja Academy into a pinnacle powerhouse beyond Kage Level. Anyone who knew about that kind of talent could only feel ashamed of their own.
He considered himself something of a genius, but compared with Qingyun, he seemed no different from a ninja with mediocre talent. The first time they met, Qingyun had soundly defeated him. After that, Qingyun's rise had been meteoric. He had used himself as bait to create an opportunity for Jiraiya and Orochimaru to burn Sunagakure's frontline supplies.
Then he had fought Ōnoki alone and successfully driven him back, preventing an even larger war. More recently, he had defeated Danzo, one of Konoha's veteran powerhouses, and forced him to defect.
Even more terrifying was that Qingyun had somehow uncovered many of the Root's secrets. Every Root Ninja bore the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal. The moment they thought of revealing anything about the Root, the seal would activate, preventing them from saying a word about it.
Yet Qingyun had used some unknown means to uncover so many of the Root's secrets. Such terrifying methods sent chills down people's spines.
Now, almost no one in Konoha dared provoke Qingyun, afraid that if they angered him, he would deal with them the same way he had dealt with