Maybe I'm Just Too Outstanding

The Shinobi World was a truly wondrous place. The Land of Wind was filled with yellow sand, the Land of Lightning was suited for undergoing tribulation, the Land of Rain saw endless rain year-round, and the Land of Fire enjoyed spring in all four seasons. The borders between nations seemed to have some kind of buff applied to them—cross the line, and the weather changed completely.

That was also why the Land of Fire was coveted by others. Its environment was too good, and it was far too prosperous.

Unfortunately, it was precisely because the Land of Fire was so wealthy that, by the time the other major nations received the crucial intelligence that Konohagakure had been half-destroyed by the Nine-Tails, Konoha's reconstruction was nearly complete.

Other than losing the Fourth Hokage, everything remained as usual. The village had even taken the opportunity to expand outward.

At the entrance to the Uchiha temporary compound, Retsuo gathered ingredients as he went.

"Uncle Teishō, three pancakes."

"It's Retsuo. Are these for Tenma and Shinji again?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, Uchiha Teishō casually brushed on two extra layers of syrup. He knew Uchiha Retsuo did not like sweets, but most other young people in Konoha were practically captives of sugary food.

Ninja villages had originally been composed of ninja clans of all sizes, with large numbers of civilians added only later. These days, the village had temporarily allocated compounds to each clan. Retsuo had been assigned a huge courtyard for cultivation, yet no one within the Uchiha objected.

Because he had fiercely accused Root—especially because he had made those two hateful people, Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Hiruzen, publicly fall out and make complete fools of themselves before the entire village—Retsuo was now incredibly popular within the clan, faintly catching up to the genius Shisui.

Uchiha Shisui had graduated early from the Ninja Academy half a year ago and had long since headed to the Eastern Front battlefield to fight mist ninja. Like a blade leaving its sheath, his reputation continued to grow.

For years, the Uchiha had claimed to be the Number one clan in the ninja world, yet they had never produced any especially outstanding talent. There had only been so-called prodigies who, at a glance, seemed destined to stop at Three Tomoe.

Unexpectedly, two of them had emerged at once in Konoha's thirty-ninth year. The entire clan was filled with joy, utterly out of place amid Konoha's current grim atmosphere.

But the Uchiha did not care. It had been far too long since anyone had taken on Root. They had to celebrate!

Soon, the three gathered inside the dango shop. Tenma and Shinji had arrived first. When Retsuo showed up, Shinji eagerly pulled out the bento she had made. After buying the dango, Tenma frowned slightly—they were outrageously expensive!

Today's gathering might not have put much pressure on Retsuo and Shinji, but Tenma had emptied all his savings to buy dango. He was also a war orphan.

Yet Tenma never mooched off Retsuo or Shinji. His pride would not allow it. Not only did he chase after his two companions on the path of becoming a ninja, he also wanted to be their equal financially.

At the next table sat Mitaraishi Anko, stuffing her face with dango.

Retsuo knew this older sister. She was three years older than him and had become Orochimaru's disciple to learn how to play with snakes. Her greatest hobby was slurping down dango, and in the Unflammable Period, she would grow fat into a ball-shaped bolt of lightning.

But for now, she was still a spirited young girl. Having just graduated from the Ninja Academy, she had become one of the Three Legendary Sannin's disciples, an incomparably glorious honor.

One had to know that, at this time, she was the only living disciple of the Three Legendary Sannin in Konoha. Two others had died in battle: one was the direct heir of the Senju Clan, and the other was the Fourth Hokage.

With that identity alone, Anko felt as though she had ascended.

At another table sat Umino Iruka, Mizuki, and Chie Tsubaki. Iruka did not look at all like someone whose parents had just died, eating his dango with great relish. Chie Tsubaki quietly watched her two companions, seemingly lost in thought.

Farther away were Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane, the pair burying their heads in food and hardly speaking.

Then the curtain was lifted, and Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, and the Blue Beast, Might Guy, entered one after another.

Might Guy shouted in his booming voice, "Ah, Kakashi, have a youthful dango-eating showdown with me!"

Kakashi's cool voice came from outside. "Eating dango is fine. Let's skip the youthful showdown."

After saying that, Kakashi stood at the entrance with both hands in his pockets, hesitating for a moment before stepping inside.

He was in decent spirits today, at least not looking as though he had just woken up. Hearing him agree, Might Guy was overjoyed. These past few days, he had gone to great lengths to "activate" Kakashi, but Kakashi had seemed as though he had taken sleeping pills, giving no response whatsoever and sometimes not even bothering to acknowledge him.

The sun had risen in the west today!

"Big Brother Kakashi?"

Retsuo was surprised as well. By all rights, this should have been Kakashi's dark period, when he was truly lost at a crossroads in life. He actually had the mood to enter a dango shop?

Still, Retsuo did not think much of it. Over the past two years, Kakashi had looked after him quite a bit. Though it had not been of much practical use—he had merely ensured Retsuo's safety and never taught him cultivation—Kakashi was still closer to Retsuo than most people.

But just as Retsuo greeted him, he suddenly put down his dango and stood up. Shinji, seated beside him, froze. "Retsuo?"

Passing by Kakashi, Retsuo pattered out of the shop. After looking left and right, unease filled his heart. Just now, his Yin Release Barrier had sounded an alarm, a needle-pricking sensation...

"Has Root gone insane? They're even coming in broad daylight?"

Could the Yin Release Barrier have given a false alarm? That was strange.

Three enormous milky-white dango hung beneath the dango shop's door beam, with the shop's name written on them. Below the dango was the curtain. Noon sunlight filtered through it into the shop, and behind it, Kakashi stared at him with dead-fish eyes.

Retsuo gave an awkward smile. He still had some difficult cultivation problems that he needed to ask Lord Kakashi about.

Minato Namikaze's Chakra clone had told him to develop his Kekkei Genkai. Although the clan's experts were powerful, none specialized in bloodline development. The Sharingan was also a Kekkei Genkai, but ocular bloodlines were simply too special. They could not be developed through cultivation at all.

Most Kekkei Genkai in the Shinobi World were combinations of two of the five ordinary releases. However, there were also five special bloodlines originating from the Otsutsuki: Senju, Uchiha, Hyuga Clan, Uzumaki, and Kaguya. The bloodlines of these five great clans all contained Yin-Yang Release and the Sage of Six Paths' genes, producing two Sage's Eyes and three Sage's Bodies. They were extremely special.

Neither the Hyuga Clan nor the Uchiha, the two great ocular bloodline clans, had ever produced a ninja capable of developing a Kekkei Genkai.

Minato seemed to have forgotten that...

But Retsuo blindly believed in Minato. Especially since Minato was already dead, what ill intentions could he possibly have? It was simply that developing a bloodline was both difficult and dangerous, so Retsuo had not dared to truly take that step.

Although Kakashi did not have a bloodline either, Konohagakure had no respectable conventional Kekkei Genkai Ninja. Konoha's strength lay in its many secret technique clans, covering all kinds of fields, while its bloodlines were uniquely bizarre—all Six Paths bloodlines...

Thus, the powerful and experienced Kakashi was probably the person most able to help him. Kakashi was not a Kekkei Genkai Ninja, but he killed Kekkei Genkai Ninja...

The Professor of Ninjutsu, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was certainly more suitable, but Retsuo was not foolish enough to seek him out.

As Retsuo walked back, he examined everyone in the shop. There did not seem to be anyone hiding outside. In other words, the malice had come from inside. Someone among them must have suddenly developed ill intent toward him, which had then been sensed by the Yin Release Barrier?

It was difficult to say. Although he had conducted many tests on the Yin Release Barrier over the past few days, Retsuo still could not quantify malicious thoughts. He did not know whether even the tiniest bit of negative emotion would trigger a reaction, or whether it required intense hostility, perhaps even killing intent.

He also did not know whether the needle-pricking sensation was related to distance, like the famous inverse-square law in physics. Did the sensation grow stronger the closer someone was? It would have been great if he could come up with a formula.

The key was that after all this fuss, the Yin Release Barrier's alarm vanished.

Retsuo sat back down in low spirits. When he looked up, Kakashi's dead-fish eyes were fixed on him. "What's wrong?"

"Someone seemed to be spying on me." Retsuo explained casually. "Maybe I'm just too outstanding?"

"Cough, cough..." Mitaraishi Anko gave a dry cough.

Retsuo thought, What is this older sister trying to hide? The possibility that she had developed ill intent wasn't low at all.

Anko's teacher, Orochimaru, was currently attached to Root and conducting unspeakable experiments. The crucial point was that after Retsuo's stunt, Yamato had been completely exposed. Who had been most affected by this? If Danzō claimed second place, only Orochimaru would dare claim first.

The birth of a Wood Release Ninja could not be separated from human experimentation—more precisely, Wood Style Cells transplant experiments. Sarutobi Hiruzen could figure out with his ass who had carried out those experiments.

Who knew how Orochimaru was cursing behind the scenes.

The only comforting thing was that nobody else knew Retsuo actually knew Orochimaru was the one performing those experiments. Otherwise, Retsuo felt that his little life might already be over.

At that thought, Retsuo felt a chill down his neck and silently added Orochimaru's name to the list of people he absolutely had to guard against. His danger rating even surpassed Danzō's.

That malicious-thought alarm from earlier might have been this Miss Anko. It was perfectly reasonable for her to bear hostility toward him. If he had to fight her, how should he counter her Shadow Snake Hand?

Retsuo's only problem now was that he was too weak in a direct confrontation. The Uchiha greeting technique was simply not enough to look at. He could only win through surprise.

At that moment, the Barrier pricked him again.