Possibly I'm Just Too Excellent

The Shinobi World was a very strange place. The Land of Wind was buried beneath endless yellow sand, the Land of Lightning was suitable for surviving heavenly tribulations, the Land of Rain was gloomy and rainy all year round, and the Land of Fire enjoyed springlike weather in every season. The borders between the countries seemed to have buffs added to them—cross the line, and the weather changed completely.

That was also why the Land of Fire was coveted. Its environment was too pleasant, and it was excessively wealthy.

Unfortunately, precisely because of the Land of Fire's wealth, by the time the other major nations obtained the crucial intelligence that the Nine-Tails had destroyed nearly half of Konohagakure, the reconstruction of Konoha was almost finished.

Apart from losing the Fourth Hokage, everything else remained as usual. The village had even taken advantage of the opportunity to expand outward.

At the entrance to the Uchiha's temporary residence, Retsuo gathered ingredients along the way.

"Uncle Teishō, three pancakes."

"Ah, it's Retsuo. Are they still for Tenma and Shinji?"

After receiving confirmation, Uchiha Teishō smoothly brushed on two extra layers of syrup. He knew Uchiha Retsuo did not like sweets, but most of the other youngsters in Konoha were slaves to sugary food.

The ninja village had originally been formed from ninja clans of all sizes, and only later had large numbers of civilians joined. These days, the village had temporarily allocated residences to the various clans. Retsuo had been assigned a large courtyard for his training, but no one in the Uchiha opposed it.

Because he had strongly accused Root and, in particular, caused the two loathsome men Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Hiruzen to openly fall out and make complete fools of themselves in front of the entire village, Retsuo's standing within the clan was now incredibly high, faintly catching up to the prodigy Shisui.

Uchiha Shisui had graduated early from the Ninja Academy half a year ago and had already gone to the Eastern Front to fight the Mist Ninja. Like a drawn blade, his reputation was growing greater by the day.

Over the years, the Uchiha had falsely claimed to be the Number one clan in the ninja world, but no particularly outstanding seedlings had ever emerged. They were all so-called talents who, at a glance, seemed destined to stop at the Three Tomoe.

Who would have thought that two would suddenly appear in the same year, Year 39 of Konoha? The entire clan was brimming with joy, completely at odds with Konoha's current grim atmosphere.

But the Uchiha didn't care. No one had managed to cause trouble for Root in ages. They had to celebrate!

Before long, the three of them gathered inside the dango shop. Tenma and Shinji arrived first. When Shinji saw Retsuo arrive, she excitedly took out the bento she had made. Tenma, having finished buying the dango, frowned slightly because they were absurdly expensive!

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

But Tenma had never freeloaded off Retsuo or Shinji. His pride would not allow it. He not only chased after his two companions on the path of the ninja; economically, he also had to stand on equal footing with them.

At the table beside them sat Mitaraishi Anko, chewing away with great gusto.

Retsuo knew this older sister. She was three years older than him and had taken Orochimaru as her teacher to learn how to play with snakes. Her greatest hobby was slurping down dango. In the future, during the Unflammable Period, she would grow into a spherical bolt of lightning.

But for now, she was still a spirited young woman in the prime of her youth. She had only just graduated from the Ninja Academy and had already become a disciple of one of the Three Legendary Sannin, a position of incomparable honor.

One had to understand that among the disciples of the Three Legendary Sannin currently alive in Konoha, she was the only one. The other two had died in battle: one was the heir of the Senju Clan, and the other was the Fourth Hokage.

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

At the next table were Umino Iruka, Mizuki, and Chie Tsubaki. Iruka showed no sign whatsoever of having just lost his parents; he ate 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 keeping their heads down and devouring their food without saying much.

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

Might Guy boomed, "Ah, Kakashi! Please engage in a youthful dango-eating duel with me!"

Kakashi's cool voice drifted over. "I'll eat dango, but forget the youthful duel."

After saying that, Kakashi stood at the entrance with both hands in his pockets and hesitated for a moment before stepping into the shop.

He seemed to be in good spirits today, at least not like someone who had just woken up. When he heard Kakashi agree, Might Guy was overjoyed. These past few days, he had gone to great lengths to "activate" Kakashi, but Kakashi had been like someone who had taken sleeping pills, offering no response at all. Sometimes, he could not even be bothered to acknowledge him.

The sun had risen in the west today!

"Kakashi-nii?"

Retsuo was surprised as well. This period should have been Kakashi's dark phase, when he was truly lost at life's crossroads. Yet he actually still felt like entering a dango shop?

He did not pay it much mind, though. Over the past two years, Kakashi had taken considerable care of Retsuo. Though it had not been particularly useful and had merely ensured that he stayed safe instead of teaching him how to train, Retsuo still felt closer to him than to the others.

But just as Retsuo finished greeting him, he suddenly set down his dango and stood up. Shinji, sitting beside him, froze. "Retsuo?"

Passing Kakashi shoulder to shoulder, Retsuo pattered out of the shop. He looked left and right, muttering inwardly. Just now, his Yin Release Barrier had sounded an alarm, accompanied by a needle-pricking sensation...

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

Could the Yin Release Barrier have triggered a false alarm? How strange.

Three enormous milky-white dango hung beneath the lintel of the dango shop, with the shop's name written on them. The curtain hung below the dango. The noon sunlight passed through it and scattered into the shop. Behind the curtain, Kakashi stared at him with dead fish eyes.

Retsuo gave an awkward smile. He still had some difficulties in his training that he needed to ask Kakashi about recently.

Minato Namikaze's Chakra clone had asked him to develop his Kekkei Genkai. The experts within the clan were indeed very capable, but none of them excelled at developing Kekkei Genkai. The Sharingan was also a Kekkei Genkai, but a Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai was simply too special. It could not be developed through training at all.

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

Neither of the two great Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai clans, the Hyuga and the Uchiha, had ever produced a ninja who developed a Kekkei Genkai.

Minato seemed to have forgotten that point...

But Retsuo blindly trusted Minato. After all, what malicious intentions could Minato, who was already dead, possibly have? It was simply that developing a Kekkei Genkai was extremely difficult and dangerous, so he had not dared to truly take that step.

Although Kakashi did not possess a Kekkei Genkai either, Konohagakure had no decent conventional Kekkei Genkai Ninja. Konoha's strength lay in its many secret-technique clans, covering every kind of ability. Only when it came to Kekkei Genkai was it extremely unusual—they were all Six Paths Kekkei Genkai...

Therefore, the highly skilled and experienced Kakashi was probably the person best able to help him. Kakashi was not a Kekkei Genkai Ninja, but he had killed Kekkei Genkai Ninjas...

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

At that moment, Retsuo walked back while examining everyone in the shop. There did not seem to be anyone hiding outside. In other words, the malice had come from inside the shop. One of them had probably suddenly developed hostile feelings toward him, which had then been sensed by the Yin Release Barrier.

This was difficult to say. Although he had conducted quite a few tests on the Yin Release Barrier these past few days, Retsuo still had no way to "quantify" malicious thoughts. He did not know whether the slightest negative mental activity would trigger a reaction, or whether it required intense hostility or even killing intent.

He also did not know whether the needle-pricking sensation was related to distance. For example, was it like the famous inverse-square law in physics? The closer someone was, the stronger the prickling sensation? If only he could work out a formula for it.

The key was that after all this commotion, the Yin Release Barrier's alarm had disappeared.

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

"It seems someone was spying on me." Retsuo explained casually. "Maybe I'm just too excellent?"

"Ahem..." Mitaraishi Anko coughed dryly.

What is this big sister trying to hide? Retsuo thought. There's a good chance she's the one who developed hostile feelings toward me.

Anko's teacher, Orochimaru, was currently working under Root, conducting experiments that could not be revealed to the public. More importantly, after Retsuo had caused such a commotion, Yamato had been completely exposed. Who had been affected more by this matter? If Danzō came second, only Orochimaru would dare claim first place.

The birth of a Wood Release Ninja could not be separated from human experimentation. More precisely, it required transplant experiments involving Wood Style Cells. Sarutobi Hiruzen could figure out who was conducting the experiments even with his backside.

Who knew how Orochimaru was cursing him behind his back?

The only comforting thing was that no one else knew that Retsuo was actually aware Orochimaru was the one conducting the experiments. Otherwise, Retsuo felt that his little life might already be over.

At that thought, Retsuo's neck turned cold. He silently added Orochimaru's name to the list of people he had to be especially wary of. His danger level even surpassed Danzō's.

The malicious-thought alarm just now might well have been caused by Anko. Her having hostile feelings would be perfectly reasonable. If he had to fight her, how was he supposed to counter her Shadow Snake Hand?

Retsuo's only problem now was that he was too weak head-on. The Uchiha's greeting technique was truly inadequate. He could only win through surprise.

At that moment, the barrier pricked him again.