Uzumaki Bloodline

"Is that so?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from the pipe in his hand and nodded. "That's what I thought, too."

His fingers tapped the desk unconsciously as he spoke again. "Go fetch Lin Ze's file."

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

Whoosh!!!

The ANBU who had just delivered the report moved at his command, leaving the office with the Body Flicker Technique.

A short while later, the ANBU returned with Lin Ze's file.

Hiruzen Sarutobi opened it and began reading carefully.

"Lin Ze, discovered at the border at age five by ANBU Squad C-5 and brought back to the Konoha Orphanage. His original village was located at the junction of the Land of Whirlpools, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Water. The village was wiped out by Mist Ninja..." Hiruzen Sarutobi murmured to himself. "The reason for its destruction was... the Uzumaki bloodline?"

Nara Luhong leaned over for a look and said thoughtfully, "The Uzumaki Clan? No wonder his constitution is unusual, allowing him to endure intense Taijutsu training. Still, his bloodline must be fairly diluted."

Members of the Uzumaki Clan with pure bloodlines all had striking red hair, which was how Kushina had earned the nickname "Red-Hot Habanero."

But Lin Ze's hair was the same silvery white as Kakashi's. Even if he had the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline, it had to be extremely diluted.

Still, bloodline purity could not be judged by hair color alone.

Take Kushina in the original story, for example. Having been chosen by Konoha to become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the purity of her Uzumaki bloodline was beyond question. Yet the child she had with Minato Namikaze-Naruto Uzumaki-had inherited Minato's blond hair.

By rights, Naruto was half Uzumaki.

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi and Nara Luhong, caught up in their preconceived notions, focused solely on Lin Ze's white hair. Combined with his poor aptitude for chakra, they directly concluded that he belonged to a branch of the Uzumaki Clan with a diluted bloodline.

Hiruzen Sarutobi drew deeply on his pipe and slowly exhaled. "The Uzumaki Clan, huh? No wonder his constitution is unusual. A pity. If his bloodline were a little purer, he might become an important fighting force for the village."

Nara Luhong smiled. "Even so, his potential shouldn't be underestimated. He can exchange blows with a Chunin at six. Once he develops, he has the makings of an elite Jōnin at the very least."

After a moment's thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi made his decision. "Then let's do this. Once he graduates from the Ninja Academy, promote him directly to Chunin and bring him into the ANBU for training."

Nara Luhong nodded and added, "Also, we could consider promoting this Might Duy to Chunin!"

"His Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are a complete mess, but his Taijutsu is genuinely formidable."

"The Eight Gates Released Formation?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his fingers on the desk and pondered silently for a moment before nodding. "All right. It's settled."

"Also, assign a Jōnin to observe that Lin Ze in secret. I want detailed reports."

Normally, promotion to Chunin required passing a series of assessments, such as the Chunin Ninja Exams taken by Naruto's class in the original story. But in Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi made the rules!

The training ground.

At that moment, Lin Ze was still thinking about the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon's other abilities.

Although he knew the ANBU had investigated him earlier, he had no idea what Hiruzen Sarutobi and Nara Luhong were currently deducing about his background.

Not long after arriving in Konoha and entering the Orphanage, Lin Ze had begun his Saitama-style training. But as an adult, he had paid no attention to what a child's normal daily exercise limit should be.

He had set his training volume solely according to his body's feedback, then slowly increased it beyond each day's limit.

Had Lin Ze taken care to compare himself with the other children at the Orphanage, he would have discovered that his body was indeed unusual.

Ordinary children simply could not withstand that Saitama training regimen.

After all, it consisted of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a ten-kilometer run every day!

Children's bones and muscles had yet to develop fully. Even if children in the Hokage World developed faster, and even with chakra as a factor, they could not possibly reach Lin Ze's training intensity in just half a year.

It might have been possible in the world of One Piece.

Seen that way, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Nara Luhong's deduction that he carried the Uzumaki bloodline was not wrong.

Lin Ze did indeed possess the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline; he simply did not know it, having transmigrated here. After all, the original owner's consciousness had already dissipated by the time he arrived, and unlike the legions of other transmigrators, he had not inherited the original body's memories.

However, Lin Ze's bloodline was not as diluted as Hiruzen Sarutobi and Nara Luhong had guessed. His father, just like Kushina, had been a direct-line member of the Uzumaki Clan. Like Naruto, his body was half an Uzumaki sage body!

That half-Uzumaki sage body was part of what had led Might Duy to call him a "Taijutsu genius." The other part was the physical enhancement provided by the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.

Unfortunately, Lin Ze's transmigrated soul was flawed, directly causing a shortage of the spiritual energy needed to produce chakra and ultimately leaving him with exceptionally poor chakra aptitude.

The one responsible for all of this was a hidden hand lurking in the Pure Land. Of course, Lin Ze had no way of knowing any of it.

Huff!!

Lin Ze let out a long breath, stood up, and went through the hand seal sequence Uchiha Onibi had just taught him.

Deliberately slowing his movements, he formed the seals in the order of "...snake-ram-monkey-boar-horse-tiger."

It looked convincing, but in reality, the chakra inside him did not stir at all. His meager supply had already been nearly exhausted during the earlier training.

As he completed the final tiger seal, Lin Ze's Adam's apple bobbed slightly, as though he were truly mobilizing chakra in his throat.

The next second, he turned his head slightly and opened his mouth toward the air above an empty patch of ground nearby. An orange-red flame burst out with a whoosh.

About the size of a basketball, the flame hovered in the air for half a second before dissipating on its own. It had neither the scorching impact of a great fireball nor its scattering sparks, falling far short even of Ryota Uchiha's great fireball.

"Mm, just as I thought. It looks no different from the Great Fireball Technique."

As Lin Ze watched the fireball slowly dissipate before him, a glimmer of understanding crossed his eyes.

The Bolo Breath ability of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon that he had just used had not even reached one ten-thousandth of its power-he had deliberately suppressed the flame's temperature and explosive force, imitating only the great fireball's most superficial form.

Chakra-driven Fire Release carried an earthy smell, whereas the flames of the fruit's ability were purer. Without careful scrutiny, that subtle difference was impossible to detect.

Lin Ze relaxed his hands. As he released the seals, he deliberately shook his wrists and panted twice, as though he had exhausted his chakra.

"That should about do it."

Lin Ze muttered to himself. If he needed to use his flame ability in the future, he only had to form a few convincing seals beforehand, then release Bolo Breath at the level of this "half-baked great fireball." Anyone would think he was a Taijutsu ninja who had barely mastered Fire Release after receiving instruction from the Uchiha.

As for its growing power in the future?

Naturally, he could attribute that to the Uchiha-after all, the Uchiha Clan was already renowned for Fire Release. Having one more "prodigy they had taught" would make him less likely to arouse suspicion instead.

Of course, that depended on avoiding the Hyuga Clan as much as possible.

Once they activated their Byakugan, they were practically a 360-degree surveillance system without a single blind spot. Not only could they see through external movements, but they could also see internal details such as muscles, meridians, and chakra flow with perfect clarity!