The Third Hokage's Attention

"Rock Lee sure works hard!"

In the distance, he could see him.

A small, slender figure was frog-jumping along the edge of Konoha, sweat pouring down his face.

Rikuto couldn't help feeling a little stirred.

His expression turned serious. "Then I can't afford to fall too far behind!"

"One, two..."

He didn't continue practicing Chakra nature transformation.

Practice at that level alone no longer meant much to him.

Nor was Rikuto in a hurry to undertake more advanced nature transformation training.

Instead, he began warming up, preparing to train his Taijutsu.

He knew very well how powerful his future enemies were.

He had always been extremely disciplined and had never slacked off in his Taijutsu training.

He had never devoted any less effort to it.

He trained day and night, come rain or shine.

After all, no matter how powerful a person's Chakra was or how astonishing the techniques they mastered were,

without a powerful body to support it and an indomitable will to wield and control it,

it would ultimately be nothing but a castle in the air.

Of course, the difference between a genius and an ordinary person

was truly immense.

Though he greatly admired Rock Lee's indomitable perseverance,

Rikuto had to admit that talent really did matter sometimes.

Born with far more Chakra than an ordinary person, as well as outstanding sensory abilities,

he already possessed the aptitude and potential to rival the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju of old.

In particular, after gaining the power of the Logia-type Woods-Woods Fruit, he had perfectly awakened the portion of his bloodline power that lay dormant within him, inherited from the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

His potential could be said to be limitless.

Even if he didn't train half as hard as Rock Lee,

thanks to his exceptional natural gifts,

the strength of his body and even the speed of his progress

were simply beyond the reach of Rock Lee, who had mediocre aptitude and relied solely on persistence and hard work to catch up.

If he weren't concealing his abilities and trying not to stand out so much,

he could easily defeat Neji Hyuga with Taijutsu alone, despite Neji having always ranked first in Taijutsu class among the elite class.

Much less Rock Lee, who ranked second.

A single punch could cripple him, or even kill him.

That was because he had long since mastered

monstrous strength on par with the First Hokage's.

Chapter 12: The Third Hokage's Attention [Third update, please support]

Time flew.

Half a month

passed in the blink of an eye.

At noon-

The blazing sun hung high in the sky.

On the deserted rooftop of the Ninja Academy,

Tenten, who had eagerly dragged Rikuto there after school,

held out all ten fingers.

Chakra Threads flew from her fingertips,

connecting to the puppet doll placed before her.

"Click... click..."

As she worked her ten fingers, constantly manipulating it,

the puppet doll stretched its legs, swung its arms, walked, jumped, ran...

Although the puppet doll's movements were somewhat stiff and ultimately not natural enough, nowhere near as effortless and fluid as Chiya Rikuto's, who made it seem like a living person,

they were already quite convincing.

"Rikuto, what do you think?"

Tenten's eyes narrowed into crescents.

Looking at Rikuto in front of her, she asked happily, "I'm doing pretty well, right?"

"You are. You've made a lot of progress!"

Rikuto smiled and nodded.

Over the past few days, under his instruction,

the two girls' constant efforts and practice had begun to bear fruit.

It had to be said that Tenten was indeed quite talented at controlling puppets.

Her progress could be described as rapid.

She could already use Chakra Threads to control the puppet doll easily and make it do as she wished.

However, that was mainly because the puppet doll was relatively small and light.

If it were replaced with a large, bulky puppet built on a one-to-one scale with a real person,

it wouldn't be so easy to control.

Meanwhile-

Inside the top-floor office of the Hokage building,

an old man with white hair and a white beard, age spots on his skin, and a pipe in his mouth

stared in surprise at the crystal ball before him, which was a little larger than a fist.

On the crystal ball,

the scene displayed was none other than the rooftop of the Ninja Academy.

"In just half a month, she can already control a puppet doll so convincingly?"

Watching the image in the crystal ball, the Third Hokage couldn't help praising her. "It seems this girl really does have some talent as a puppeteer!"

However, the one who had truly drawn his attention wasn't Tenten.

It was Chiya Rikuto, the orphaned son of the late Chiya Kawasuke, a Jonin of the medical team!

"Although I noticed long ago that this child, Chiya Rikuto, inherited his father's talent for Medical Ninjutsu, has an astonishing amount of Chakra and control far beyond others his age, and has even mastered some basic Medical Ninjutsu..."

Gazing at the handsome, composed boy in the crystal ball,

even Hiruzen Sarutobi, a Hokage who prided himself on his maturity and composure and had met countless people, couldn't help marveling:

"I truly didn't expect this child to master the Puppet Technique so quickly by studying and experimenting on his own with just a few basic books on puppets, or to design and make such an exquisite puppet doll himself..."

A few days earlier,

while using the Telescope Technique to survey Konoha as usual,

he had happened to discover Rikuto teaching Ino and Tenten the Puppet Technique.

Moreover, Rikuto could actually control two puppet dolls at once.

He had immediately found it rather unbelievable.

Chiya Rikuto had excelled at the Ninja Academy, even outshining Neji Hyuga, the genius of the Hyuga Branch Family.

He had not gone unnoticed by Hiruzen.

Hiruzen had also seen him carefully reading books about puppets and related subjects on more than one occasion.

But he hadn't expected Chiya Rikuto, who was only eight, to actually accomplish something.

Although they were just two unremarkable puppet toys,

the Third Hokage's eye for such things was naturally keener than an ordinary person's.

This glimpse alone revealed something of Chiya Rikuto's talent.

Moreover, he could manipulate them as effortlessly as his own limbs, their movements flowing like those of real people.

Such astonishing Chakra control

might have been beyond even him, the Hokage.

The boy's talent far surpassed that of his father, Chiya Kawasuke.

"Phew..."

Looking at the young boy in the crystal ball,

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi took a long drag on his pipe and gently exhaled the smoke.

He couldn't help showing a gratified smile, his voice carrying a hint of anticipation. "Perhaps, before long, Konoha really will have a master puppeteer well-versed in Medical Ninjutsu!"

And at that moment-

On the rooftop of the Ninja Academy,

as the Third Hokage shifted the view of his Telescope Technique away from the rooftop,

the corners of Chiya Rikuto's mouth curved up slightly.

A nearly imperceptible smile appeared on his face.

A certain old man who always liked to peep was checking up on people throughout the village every few days.

How could he possibly fail to sense it?

Besides, there was no way to keep his teaching Ino and Tenten the Puppet Technique a secret.

So he had never intended to hide it from the start.

He wasn't a member of the Uchiha Clan.

He was just a commoner ninja with a clean background.

Even if he revealed some unusual talent,

it couldn't make the higher-ups particularly wary of him; at most, they would pay him a little attention.

There was no need to be so cautious and hesitant about everything.

"You didn't call me over just for this, did you?"

Chiya Rikuto smiled at Tenten. "Rock Lee said he was going to challenge Neji, and I still have to go treat him!"

"Huh? Rock Lee's challenging Neji again?"

Tenten blinked.

Then she said, a little speechless, "He really never learns!"

Challenges like that

were nothing new to her.