Inside the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building.
"Hiruzen, Yecheng came from the orphanage. He should have been my subordinate to begin with. What's wrong with having him join Root?"
Shimura Danzō spoke ominously, without the slightest courtesy.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was startled. He had known that Danzo coming at this hour could mean nothing good.
But he had not expected Danzo to discover Yecheng so quickly.
Yet Jiraiya and Tsunade had not replied, so he could only deal with Danzo himself.
Still, age had made Hiruzen Sarutobi shrewd. He took a puff of smoke and said mildly, "Danzo, you're far too impatient. The children have only just enrolled. How could they join the ANBU?
"Leaving their abilities aside for now, they don't even have enough experience. At the very least, we must wait until they graduate."
"Hiruzen, you're too bound by old rules!"
Danzo's expression darkened, and he snorted. "Yecheng could perform the Three Basic Techniques after learning them just once, and he has considerable talent for Taijutsu. Talent like that should be brought into an elite unit and cultivated intensively!
"Yecheng must join Root!"
That was a lie.
Danzo already had plenty of people with that level of talent under his command. It was not enough to make him rush over to demand someone from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
What he truly valued was that Yecheng had spoken up for Naruto at a critical moment, and the two were extremely close.
Hiruzen would not let him touch the Jinchūriki. That was a line Danzo naturally understood, but it did not mean he could not take an indirect approach.
As long as he got his hands on Yecheng, who was extremely close to the Jinchūriki, and then had him continue befriending Naruto, would he really have to worry about being unable to order the Jinchūriki around in the future?
Danzo applauded his own ingenuity.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi saw things differently.
He truly knew how talented Yecheng was. His mastery of chakra shape transformation was already so profound that, with someone to teach him, he could immediately learn Medical Ninjutsu such as the Chakra Scalpel!
He was certain that even if Tsunade had already lost heart, seeing Yecheng's talent would absolutely move her!
The importance of Medical Ninjutsu went without saying. Without the medical corps led by Tsunade, Konoha would have exhausted its resources long ago in the last Shinobi World War!
In Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart, there was an absolute line that could not be crossed: the "roots" that could affect Konoha's potential!
The Ninja Academy, for instance. The Jinchūriki. Medical ninja!
Everything else was negotiable, but those things absolutely were not!
So Yecheng absolutely could not be handed over to Danzo!
Seeing how adamant Danzo was, Hiruzen Sarutobi dropped his smile, his expression turning serious.
"Danzo, I said we must at least wait until they graduate from the Ninja Academy."
Danzo still refused to give up and tried to keep pressing him.
"You're simply too merciful! Hiruzen..."
"Enough. This matter is settled!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi cut him off, stood up, and stared at him as he declared forcefully, "I am the Hokage!"
"You! Hiruzen! You'll regret this!"
Realizing that Hiruzen Sarutobi was unusually firm, Danzo knew he could not change his decision.
Thoroughly infuriated by those words as well, he could only fling his sleeve angrily, leave behind a harsh parting remark, and slam the door on his way out.
The door: Slam!
"Lord Hokage..."
"It's fine."
Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to look at the faces of the successive Hokage carved high into Hokage Rock, his heart deeply conflicted.
Several factions in the village were now stirring, each harboring their own schemes, all eyeing the position of Hokage.
The existence of Danzo and Root had indeed done much to suppress those factions' restless ambitions, playing a positive role in Konoha's stability and balance.
That was precisely why he had indulged Danzo so often.
Now it seemed Danzo had overstepped his authority far too much. He had to be brought into line.
But if he acted against him, the village's other factions would rear their heads again, and another bloody storm would follow.
Alas, it all came down to the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, dying so young. Had he lived to this day, and had the transfer of power among Konoha's factions gone more smoothly, how could they have ended up in such a difficult situation?
Lord First, Teacher, please watch over Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed away at his pipe. The rising smoke blurred Hokage Rock not far away, and blurred his heart as well.
Poof!
A cloud of white smoke burst outward, leaving two white, writhing humanoid things on the ground.
?! Two 𠕤 shapes?!
"Damn it! I failed again!"
Naruto plopped down on the ground, panting heavily.
As he stopped controlling his chakra, the two ward shapes on the ground also burst into white smoke and dispersed in the wind.
Beside him, Yecheng rubbed his chin, having discovered something interesting.
Through the Six Eyes, Yecheng discovered that Naruto had a staggering amount of chakra inside him-over ten times as much as Yecheng himself, even after using three [Cursed Energy] enhancement cards!
He was only six years old. It was truly outrageous!
Yet all that chakra was being used to maintain the seal on his stomach.
When he used ninjutsu himself, he actually powered it with the chakra leaking from the seal on his belly.
In other words, Naruto was actually using the Nine-Tails' chakra to perform ninjutsu.
That meant the Nine-Tails only needed to interfere slightly, and Naruto would have no control over his chakra whatsoever. Naturally, he could not perform any ninjutsu either.
That fox really was malicious.
In a sense, Naruto really was a ninjutsu genius. Even with the Nine-Tails deliberately interfering, he could still create two clones.
Even Yecheng, with this body's aptitude, would have been utterly unable to perform ninjutsu without the Six Eyes.
Of course, with the Six Eyes' help, those little tricks from the Nine-Tails were nothing worth mentioning.
After some thought, Yecheng made a suggestion.
"Naruto, let's stop practicing the Clone Technique today. Let's practice the Body Flicker Technique instead. It suits you better."
The principle behind the Body Flicker Technique was to concentrate chakra in the legs, then release it in a burst to produce an extremely rapid, brief acceleration. To those whose eyesight could not keep up, it looked like teleportation, hence the name Body Flicker Technique.
Among the Three Basic Techniques for Genin, the Substitution Technique, Clone Technique, and Transformation Technique placed greater demands on chakra control and shape transformation.
The Body Flicker Technique, however, emphasized a momentary burst, making it difficult for the Nine-Tails to interfere much. It also provided a substantial boost to combat strength, making it a more suitable technique for Naruto at present.
Yecheng's judgment was correct.
Naruto was born with a powerful constitution and extraordinary endurance. For others, the Body Flicker Technique was fairly taxing, but Naruto used it as though it were nothing.
Under Yecheng's guidance, Naruto soon successfully performed the Body Flicker Technique once!
Although his success rate was still very low, succeeding once was progress. All that remained was diligent practice, which was nothing to Naruto's tenacious will.
"I did it! Haha, I did it!"
Naruto danced around excitedly.
Seeing how happy he was, Yecheng could not help feeling happy too.
It had to be said that only Naruto could do this. Anyone else bullied like that by Konoha's people every day would have turned dark long ago and gone to stand beside the mysterious Masked Man.
"Come on, Naruto. It's not often we get to be this happy. To celebrate you learning the Body Flicker Technique, we're not having fish today. I'll treat you to ramen."
"No, Yecheng, I'll treat you!"
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