Chapter 243: Snatching the Bell x Hiruzen Sarutobi's Intervention
"Creak"
Hokage Building, Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned forward and abruptly sat up straight. Because he exerted too much force, the chair beneath his buttocks staggered backward a bit, scratching two shallow white marks on the wooden floor.
"Light?"
Specks of fluorescent light bloomed and vanished. The boy was wreathed in a soft halo, his body transforming into a "ribbon of light" that merged into the sunlight. With another flash, he shot forward nearly a kilometer!
This distance had already surpassed [Swamp Space] by an unknown amount.
Hiruzen Sarutobi pressed close to the crystal ball, holding his breath and watching quietly. His old face, covered in fine wrinkles, twisted imperceptibly as he instantly fell into a long period of deep thought...
[Yin], [Yang], and the [Five Elements] of Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, and Lightning—he, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had dabbled in them all to some extent. Yet, this was the very first time he had seen something developed using [Light] as its foundation... [Light Style]...
Or rather, it shouldn't be called [Light Style], it should be a variant of [Yang Release]!
And [Yang Release] was something only mastered by the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan!
Hiruzen Sarutobi squinted at the young boy in the crystal ball, who was continuously transforming into sunlight and shuttling through the dense forest with Rin Nohara. With a handsome face three parts like Fugaku and seven parts like Mikoto, he was undeniably an Uchiha!
From birth, it was impossible for him to have even the faintest connection with the [Senju], [Uzumaki], or even... [Yang Release]!
Then, only one possibility remained. "The issue lies with the child himself!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat back heavily in his chair. With a horizontal swipe of the brush in his hand, he dragged a dark ink stain across the long scroll, impartially erasing Roy's name perfectly...
He just sat there, watching, no longer caring about the scroll ruined by the ink stain. It wasn't until the scene shifted, and the boy suddenly stopped his steps, that he straightened his back and continued to stare intently at the crystal ball...
Southern Border Forest.
Through "Photification", Roy took Rin Nohara and brushed past Kakashi and Obito's shoulders, drilling straight out of a ray of sunlight beside them before disappearing again... leaving the two far behind...
After experiencing a brief moment of shock, Kakashi and Obito looked at each other, both seeing an unspeakable astonishment in the other's pupils!
"A person can actually turn into light?" Kakashi, his face half-covered by his mask, turned his head and asked Obito directly, "Is it the Sharingan?"
Although these simple words didn't elaborate, Obito quickly understood what Kakashi meant...
He had definitely also heard that after the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan awakens, it possesses various unimaginable powers. But... judging from Obito's own experience of having the Sharingan awakened by Roy actively instilling "negative emotions" into him...
The boy faintly felt that something "beautiful" like "light" was absolutely not something the Sharingan-possessing Uchiha Clan could own. On the contrary, it was something the Uchiha feared, desired, yet could never reach!
"An inherently evil Uchiha is not just an empty phrase." Obito recalled the glimpse of the future he saw when caught in the Genjutsu, took a deep breath, slowly shook his head, and said, "I don't know, but,"
"I feel like that doesn't resemble the Sharingan."
As Obito spoke, a trace of blood-red slowly crept into the depths of his eyes. Meeting Kakashi's gaze directly, he said, "At the very least, he didn't activate it, did he?"
Kakashi froze, and then fell silent... Just as Obito said, Roy's gaze was clear and bright, almost like the sun, without a single trace of blood-red creeping out!
The boy's white hair swayed. After a moment, he recovered, exhaled, narrowed his eyes at the boy and girl who had already reached the finish line one step ahead of them, and said, "If that's really the case, then it can only mean... that Jin Uchiha himself... is out of the ordinary!"
"Out of the ordinary..." Obito stared ahead and repeatedly murmured.
"Out of the ordinary..." Minato Namikaze arrived right behind with a kunai branded with the "Flying Thunder God Formula". Returning to Roy's side, he saw him still immersed in that profound state, reaching out to twist a ray of sunlight in a daze. With a complex and indescribable expression, he had to admit... Kakashi was right...
People are indeed different from one another. Different starting points, different experiences, different talents, different innate wisdom, different personalities. With all these variations, there seems to be only one commonality, and that is... everyone eventually dies!
However, does everyone truly march towards death in the end?
As the ancients said, grow towards the sun, and also that isolated Yin does not grow, and isolated Yang does not give life... Roy immersed himself in the enlightenment of "embodying sunlight", listening to the panel's prompts constantly echoing in his ears...
["Yang Release" +100+100+100...]
In a moment, it broke through 40,000, entering the realm of 50,000... displaying—
[Yang Release: Lv4 (43515/100000 -> 52417/100000)]
Roy opened his palm, letting that ray of sunlight slip through his fingers. Then, he pointed his index finger forward at a wooden stake standing in the training ground. With a "swoosh," a slender beam of condensed light shot out instantly, hitting the stake dead center, suddenly blowing a finger-sized hole right through it!
"Light... condensed sunlight... It's also the most important aspect regarding the [Sun] that I had never thought of..."
"Just like my eyes, I never expected they would one day house lasers."
A red glow surged deep in his eyes. Suddenly, another laser chased the finger light, opening another small hole at the lower edge of the wooden stake... Roy tried to use "light" as a foundation, expanding his imagination to develop various methods. Finally, he clapped his hands together, pulled a lightsaber from between his palms, and held it high. At the right moment, Minato Namikaze's faint words reached his ears...
"What kind of sword is this?"
Feeling the terrifying fluctuation emitting from the lightsaber, Minato Namikaze asked solemnly.
Roy casually twirled the sword, creating a sword flourish. The spilled sword light fell to the ground, instantly piercing a bottomless small hole from which groundwater bubbled out. He said absentmindedly, "Ama-no-Murakumo... Its name is Ama-no-Murakumo!"
Beneath the heavens, above the clouds, only the sun hangs high.
Truly a... "Very good name."
Minato Namikaze smoothly tucked the kunai in his hand into his waist, smiled, and extended his right hand towards Roy: "Let's get properly acquainted. I am your Jonin sensei for this assignment, Minato Namikaze."
"Jin Uchiha." Retracting the lightsaber in his hand, Roy reached out and shook hands with Minato Namikaze.
One self-created Light Style, one like a warm sun of light... Two figures, one large and one small, were reflected through the crystal ball into Hiruzen Sarutobi's old eyes, weathered by time and frost.
The old man finally seemed to remember his pipe. He picked it up and took a puff. His face then faded into the pervading smoke, making it hard for anyone to see clearly...
"How wonderful. They are all radiant young people..." After a moment, a sigh echoed leisurely in the Hokage's office...
Perhaps reminiscing about his own youthful days, or perhaps his emotions were fluctuating too much to calm down... After fiercely smoking the remaining tobacco in his pipe bowl, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up, draped his Hokage haori over his shoulders, put on his Hokage hat, pushed the door open, and walked out...
"Creak..." The door to the Hokage's office opened and closed.
Footsteps rang through the Hokage Building, rang through the bustling streets outside, and rang amidst the various greetings exchanged with Konoha villagers, pawns, merchants, and ninjas. Involuntarily, they spread towards... the Southern Border Forest...
At that moment, noticing the secretly peeping gaze vanish, Roy calmly withdrew his hand from Minato Namikaze's grasp. He tilted his head and glanced at Rin Nohara walking towards him.
She was pinching the corner of her clothes, her eyelids lowered, as she murmured, "Thank you."
Her usually sweet and gentle demeanor, at this moment, upon encountering him... seemed somewhat flustered and at a loss for what to do... What is wrong with me?
Rin Nohara, you should raise your head and boldly look at him and say it...
Her cheeks were burning hot. The young girl seemed... to have not yet escaped from the virtual and real feeling of "Photification". Regarding this,
Roy expressed his understanding, gave her a slight nod, and said, "You're welcome."
The boy's gaze passed over Rin Nohara, looking behind her at Kakashi and Obito, who had finally reached the finish line, clutching their knees and panting heavily, Huff... huff... He said, "Since I caused everyone to take the blame together, I should bear the responsibility."
On the side, Minato Namikaze crossed his arms. Seeing Kakashi and Obito stepping up one after another, he nodded imperceptibly... What are comrades? What are bonds? This is it.
A gust of wind blew, making the man's yellow hair sway. Minato Namikaze clapped his hands and said, "Alright, let's begin today's training mission." He flipped his hand and pulled a bell from his jacket.
"Jingle jingle..."
The bell swayed in the wind, emitting a crisp ringing sound...
Noticing this scene, Roy's thoughts fluctuated, flashing back to the future where the trio of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura first formed a team to snatch the bells from Kakashi's hands. He cast a sidelong glance at Kakashi next to him. Come to think of it... this is also an old Konoha tradition. As for who it specifically traces back to, it might... go to the Third, or even the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
However... the bell was out, but the imagined team-up didn't happen... Minato Namikaze instructed Kakashi, Obito, and Rin to pair up and practice sparring. Meanwhile, he shook the shiny bell himself, blocked Roy's path, and smiled at him: "To be honest, before you arrived, I was thinking of having you cooperate with Kakashi and the others to snatch this bell from my hand. But,"
After seeing the various methods Roy displayed while galloping through the forest carrying a log... Minato Namikaze immediately changed his mind. He looked seriously at Roy and said, "I think, with your strength, you shouldn't need their cooperation."
"Does this count as a compliment?"
"Of course." Minato Namikaze said sternly, "From the moment I announce the start, please be sure to treat me as an enemy."
"Enemy," Roy chewed on these two words. He straightened his back, and along with it, his imposing aura underwent an earth-shattering change in that very instant!
"Boom!" An overwhelmingly powerful [Ren] explosively crushed outwards with the boy as the center!
Not far away... separated from Roy and Minato Namikaze by just an open area of the training ground, Kakashi was fighting Obito and Rin alone. Struck by the "Nen Aura", he staggered, almost crashing into an upward, forceful punch from Obito, who had rolled up his sleeves. He looked back in horror...
Right in the center of the training ground, Roy's black hair flew upwards against gravity, as if he had walked out of the sun. As he opened his mouth, the [Scorching True Meaning] overflowed. Looking burningly at Minato Namikaze, he said calmly, "I have always treated my enemies with the goal of killing them, so,"
"Sensei, are you sure you are serious?"
Minato Namikaze's yellow hair was blown flying upwards. Facing the [Ren] head-on, he thought to himself, "What strong Chakra!"
Instead of retreating, he stepped forward and smiled candidly: "Of course!"
The man drew a kunai with a backhand motion, twirled it smoothly between his palms, and grasped it firmly. Then he narrowed his eyes at Roy and said, "Since you already call me Sensei, if I don't get a clear grasp of your strength, I will make wrong judgments during missions."
"True,"
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. It was just... Roy tilted his head and glanced towards a certain direction behind him: "Sensei is right. I just feel it's necessary to have a witness. If someone really gets hurt, there needs to be an explanation."
"Tap... tap..." Footsteps sounded.
Noticing Roy's gaze, Minato Namikaze followed the direction Roy was looking...
A white Hokage haori vaguely emerged from a corner of the dense forest, followed by that familiar Hokage hat, and the old face covered in years and frost beneath the hat...
"The Third?!" Minato Namikaze was startled. Taking another look,
Hiruzen Sarutobi walked out from the dense forest. He leisurely glanced at him and Roy, smiling as he said, "This old man came here, absolutely not to be a witness. The palms and backs of the hands are all flesh; this old man wouldn't want either to get hurt..."
As the current Hokage spoke, he stepped into the range of [Ren]. Facing Roy's [Ren] directly, feeling the mixed "light" and "heat", "attraction" and "repulsion", "wind and fire" and "lightning", "water ripples" and "rock" within it, he paused his steps, stared straight at Roy, and said, "This doesn't look like the 'Chakra Refining Technique' the school taught you!"
[Chakra Refining Technique]: Derived from "stamina", a product processed from "stamina"... Compared to the Four Major Principles of "Nen", the so-called mixture of "physical energy" and "spiritual energy" was ultimately a bit too shallow...
Roy looked calmly at Hiruzen Sarutobi. "The school never taught anyone to graduate early, either."
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "..."
His breath hitched.
Helplessly, he glared at Roy. "Look at your own strength. Does it make sense for you to stay in school?"
A guy capable of clashing swords with Sakumo, claiming to be a student who hasn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy... If the other major ninja villages found out, they would definitely suspect Konoha of boasting to deliberately strike at their morale!
"I'm not even seven yet." Roy said noncommittally, "I haven't reached graduation age, what's so unreasonable about that?"
Seven years old... It would have been better if Roy hadn't brought this up. Once he did... whether it was Hiruzen Sarutobi, Minato Namikaze, or Kakashi, Obito, and Rin who were forced to stop their sparring nearby, everyone fell silent.
Although Kakashi graduated from the Ninja Academy at six, look at someone else's six years old: creating Ninjutsu, casting signs without seals, Space-Time Ninjutsu, all done effortlessly... Kakashi wished his mask was longer, simply covering his entire face, to save himself from... being too ashamed to face anyone...
Yes, he is only seven... This was Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Yes, he is only seven... This was Minato Namikaze.
At this moment, the Southern Border Forest fell into an eerie silence. Occasionally, a flying bird cut through the sky, its chirp breaking the immersion...
Returning to his senses, Hiruzen Sarutobi waved to Roy: "We'll talk after your training. Child... come with me..."
☆☆☆
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