A month passed.
At the Hokage Building, the Third Hokage listened to an ANBU report with a grim expression.
He found it harder and harder to understand what the Uchiha had been doing lately.
A bunch of shinobi were skipping missions to go into trade?
They had a hand in every industry, bustling away with gusto.
What exactly were they up to?
The Third Hokage mulled it over for a long time, sinking so deep into thought that he never surfaced.
"What else has happened lately?"
"That Uchiha Satoru you mentioned before..."
For the first time, the ANBU member stumbled over his words.
He opened his mouth, unsure where to begin.
Uchiha Satoru had been making an alarming name for himself at school lately.
Every student at the Ninja Academy looked up to him.
But it was precisely because they looked up to him so much that something felt wrong.
The teachers' words carried less weight than Uchiha Satoru's judgment.
The students had also been pondering all sorts of strange questions lately.
Why did wars break out? Why were the rules of the shinobi world unfair? What gave the nobility the right to remain so secure in their positions?
Before, the definition of a shinobi had been simple-they were born to fight, the blades in their village's hands and the shields that took its blows.
Everything Uchiha Satoru said ran completely counter to the beliefs the ANBU member had held for half his life.
He instinctively sensed a trace of danger.
The ANBU member gathered his thoughts and gave the Third Hokage a faithful account of everything happening at the school.
Hmm?
What?
The Third Hokage's face tightened, his expression turning grave in an instant.
He remained silent for a long while.
He felt the impact of those words more sharply than anyone else present.
He was the Hokage. Having held power for so many years, he understood better than anyone just how much weight those words carried.
A five-year-old child could already view the world from a Hokage's perspective.
No, it went beyond that.
His thinking reached even higher than a Hokage's, introducing entirely new ideas the Third Hokage had never encountered.
The Third Hokage let out a long breath.
He might be right.
But in the end, it might amount to nothing more than a dream of peace.
The Third Hokage began to lose control of his fingers, which trembled faintly.
He was the Hokage of Konoha, a mighty shinobi who had fought his way through the battlefields of his youth.
Those hands, which had formed countless seals and remained as steady as iron clamps, were actually shaking now.
The shinobi world as it stood could not withstand even the slightest upheaval.
What these ideas brought everyone might not be a path to peace.
Instead, they might become an obsession no one could bear.
After a long while, the Third Hokage steadied his breathing and made up his mind.
I can't let that boy stay at school any longer.
He'll weaken the other children's resolve.
They'll gradually lose their grip on their blades.
For a shinobi, that's a fatal flaw.
But what should I do...?
"Didn't that boy submit an application to graduate early?" Having recovered his composure, the Third Hokage spoke slowly.
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
"He applied a little while ago to take the graduation exam early," the ANBU member replied.
"All right. I approve his application."
"Deliver the approval letter to the school," the Hokage added.
Normally, something like this would not even need to pass through his hands.
But he had wanted to keep watching Uchiha Satoru a little longer, so he had specifically ordered them to hold it up.
He had personally told Uchiha Satoru to enter the school early.
Who could have guessed that now he would personally be urging Uchiha Satoru to pack up and leave?
Fate really did know how to toy with people.
Once he finished speaking, the Third Hokage sank back into thought, unable to pull himself out.
Not long afterward.
Gojo Satoru lay on his back on a branch in the small grove, clutching the approval letter.
Finally got it.
After more than a month of effort, permission to take the graduation exam early was finally in his pocket.
By rights, it should not have taken so much trouble.
Anyone whose strength met the standard qualified to sit the exam.
But whether the Third Hokage had been pulling strings behind the scenes was hard to say.
Their intake of new students had suddenly found themselves saddled with all sorts of extra restrictions.
That was also why he had been determined to find a way to graduate early.
He knew the Third Hokage had his eyes fixed on the Uchiha right now.
Perhaps something about him, as an Uchiha, had caught the Third Hokage's attention.
Either way, the Third Hokage would never let him leave so easily before figuring him out.
So he had made a few moves.
In the shortest time possible, he had won over everyone at the school.
As his popularity grew, his words began to carry weight there.
Then he had started spreading new ideas and new ways of thinking.
The students at the school were the shinobi village's new blood.
As the man in power, the Third Hokage would never stand by and let outside ideas shake those children's foundations.
So he would inevitably do everything he could to kick him out of the school.
The game had played out exactly as he had predicted, and the approval letter was now in his hand.
Yet precisely because every step had gone according to his calculations.
He did not feel all that satisfied...
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