The Third Hokage's Investment and the Flying Thunder God

The Third Hokage's Investment and the Flying Thunder God

"Iruka, what brings you here this time?" The Third Hokage looked somewhat taken aback. Iruka had been coming by rather frequently lately, and he had nearly failed to put away the Crystal Ball in time.

"I'm here because of Ayato again. I'd like to help him get a Library Card," Iruka said. The library he meant was naturally not an ordinary one, but the Library of Ninjutsu Materials.

"Oh? Why did you suddenly think of getting him a Library Card?" The Third Hokage was somewhat puzzled.

With a helpless expression, Iruka told the Third Hokage about Ayato's situation. He said that there was truly not much he could teach someone with Ayato's talent, so getting him a Library Card would be far more useful.

"A Shadow Clone? Can you be sure there's no problem?" The Third Hokage frowned. Unlike Iruka, as Hokage, he naturally understood the risks of this technique.

"Yes. Ayato has probably been using Shadow Clones to attend class for more than a day or two, and he has been in good condition every day," Iruka answered.

"I see. Talent, huh?" the Third Hokage murmured. Learning the Shadow Clone was impressive, but not enough to be overly surprised about. After all, it was a technique—anyone could learn it.

But using Shadow Clones to study was surprising. The only explanation was the boy's talent, and the Third Hokage had seen all kinds of talented people before.

Of course, he was still somewhat astonished. Ayato's family background was completely clean; there was no possibility that he possessed Uzumaki Clan blood.

"In that case, we can grant him access to knowledge other than ninjutsu." After giving it some thought, the Third Hokage made his decision.

He had a clean background, was a genius, worked hard, and was mature. Any village would devote resources to someone like that, because he was destined to grow up and become a pillar of the village.

Soon, a Library Card authorization was handed from the Third Hokage to Iruka.

"Just take Ayato to have a photo attached later," the Third Hokage said.

"Yes!" Iruka accepted the Library Card. He was delighted, but also shocked. The level of access the Third Hokage had granted was far higher than he had expected. Even knowledge had different access levels, after all.

At the same time, Iruka was happy for Ayato. If the Third Hokage had taken notice of him, then his student's future was practically limitless.

After Iruka left, the Third Hokage took a deep drag of tobacco and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. He had already written to Jiraiya before, but what annoyed him was that Jiraiya had shown no intention of returning.

Now that he had witnessed Ayato's talent and diligence, the Third Hokage decided to write another letter. A genius needed sufficient guidance to grow, and Jiraiya and Tsunade were undoubtedly suitable choices to forge bonds with the village, but...

The Third Hokage handed the letter to a toad and let out a deep sigh.

"Ah..."

The next day, in the Hokage Office, the Third Hokage looked at the Crystal Ball on his desk.

Within it was the scene of Ayato training. After watching for a while, the Third Hokage shifted the view to the Ninja Academy, but the focus was still Ayato.

This time, however, the Third Hokage froze for a moment. He saw Naruto beside Ayato, and they appeared to have a fairly good relationship.

Seeing this, the Third Hokage could not help but ponder it. In the end, he felt that this combination was quite good. If Ayato became strong enough, he could help when the Tailed Beast went out of control in the future. Perhaps their bond could even awaken Naruto...

Naturally, Ayato had no idea that the Third Hokage was watching him through the Telescope Technique. Even if he knew, he would not care much. He had no secrets that could not be revealed.

Later, Ayato successfully received the Library Card from Iruka and went to the heavily guarded library to try borrowing materials.

The result was gratifying. He could even directly borrow B-rank knowledge. Although ninjutsu itself was unavailable for borrowing, that was already more than enough for Ayato.

With his current chakra reserves, he had not planned to learn any ninjutsu anyway.

And this Library Card was clearly not something Iruka, a mere Chunin, could arrange—especially not for someone else. Ayato quickly realized that the Third Hokage had noticed him and granted him considerable convenience.

Ayato was already satisfied with that. He had never expected that being noticed would let him obtain the Flying Thunder God Technique. That was something that only happened in dreams.

The Flying Thunder God was not strictly necessary in Ayato's plans, but it held extremely high priority. After all, it was simply too famous in the hands of the Fourth Hokage.

More importantly, its chakra consumption should not have been especially high. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had no bloodline either, so his chakra reserves could not possibly compare to those monsters. Even if Ayato's chakra was insufficient now, it would eventually be enough to sustain the Flying Thunder God.

However, learning the Flying Thunder God also required talent. It required not only talent for Space-Time techniques, but also sufficient reaction speed and combat talent.

With the Flying Thunder God, the Fourth Hokage had become someone enemy ninja feared at the mere mention of his name. That was simply because, without a certain degree of strength, there was almost no answer to the Flying Thunder God.

But someone with enough strength, such as the Third Raikage, probably would not have feared the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God so much. After all, the Fourth Hokage would have had a hard time breaking through the Third Raikage's defenses, and even if he did, it would have been difficult to inflict fatal damage.

If they truly had to fight to the death without being allowed to flee, it would be hard to say who would win.

Thinking of that, Ayato clicked his tongue. The Third Raikage was also among the very best of ordinary people, while the Fourth Hokage was even more regrettable—he had died far too young.

Otherwise, with the Fourth Hokage's talent, he could have basically created the Rasenshuriken or a technique of similar power. That would have made up for his comparatively lacking offensive power. At that point, why would he need to worry about the Third Raikage?

Moreover, by Ayato's estimation, the Rasenshuriken's negative effects would not even affect the Fourth Hokage. No, rather, they would not affect any ninja who could use the Flying Thunder God.

The instant the Rasenshuriken erupted, the Fourth Hokage could use the Flying Thunder God to directly leave the blast radius. Its hit rate would also be higher than throwing a Rasenshuriken formed through sage techniques, though its power would be inferior to a Rasenshuriken condensed with sage techniques.

And the Fourth Hokage could use sage techniques as well. Though he was not very proficient and needed a great deal of time to gather Natural Energy, while the amount he gathered only allowed for a short duration of use—in short, it was not very practical. But at a critical moment, if he used a Sage Technique Rasenshuriken and then secretly gave those Ten-Tails Jinchuriki one with the Flying Thunder God, it would probably...

Feel pretty damn good~

Ayato narrowed his eyes. He had decided. What the Fourth Hokage had failed to accomplish, he would fulfill in his stead! (Fourth Hokage: I never had such an ambition...)

Ayato was just worried about whether he possessed the talent to learn the Flying Thunder God. Even Obito, who possessed Kamui, and Kakashi seemed to have gained that ability only because of their bloodline limit. They still did not have the talent to learn it.

From beginning to end, only the creator, the Second Hokage, and the Fourth Hokage had learned the Flying Thunder God.

A bloodline limit was a bloodline limit. Talent for a bloodline limit did not represent one's own innate talent!

So the requirements for learning the Flying Thunder God were truly extremely harsh. Still, determination appeared in Ayato's eyes. He could only trust that his talent was sufficient.

For now, he needed to keep working hard. The knowledge in the library had to be added to his plans as well. His days were fulfilling and happy, because clearly feeling himself grow stronger bit by bit was truly wonderful. The chakra reserves increasing every day proved everything!